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CliffsTestPrep® Regents English Workbook An American BookWorks Corporation Project
Contributing Authors Dominic Marullo Oriskany Central School, NY
Sarah Bisignano Auburn High School, NY
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CliffsTestPrep® Regents English Workbook
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CliffsTestPrep® Regents English Workbook An American BookWorks Corporation Project
Contributing Authors Dominic Marullo Oriskany Central School, NY
Sarah Bisignano Auburn High School, NY
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Publisher’s Acknowledgments Editorial Acquisitions Editor: Greg Tubach
Composition Proofreader: Shannon Ramsey Wiley Publishing, Inc., Composition Services
Project Editor: Lynn Northrup CliffsTestPrep® Regents English Workbook Published by: Wiley Publishing, Inc. 111 River Street Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774 www.wiley.com
Note: If you purchased this book without a cover, you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as “unsold and destroyed” to the publisher, and neither the author nor the publisher has received any payment for this “stripped book.”
Copyright © 2008 Wiley, Hoboken, NJ Published by Wiley, Hoboken, NJ Published simultaneously in Canada Library of Congress Control Number is available from the publisher. ISBN: 978-0-470-16780-9 Printed in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, 978-750-8400, fax 978-646-8600, or on the web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Legal Department, Wiley Publishing, Inc., 10475 Crosspoint Blvd., Indianapolis, IN 46256, 317-572-3447, fax 317-572-4355, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions. The publisher and the author make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this work and specifically disclaim all warranties, including without limitation warranties of fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales or promotional materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for every situation. This work is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional services. If professional assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought. Neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for damages arising herefrom. The fact that an organization or Website is referred to in this work as a citation and/or a potential source of further information does not mean that the author or the publisher endorses the information the organization or Website may provide or recommendations it may make. Further, readers should be aware that Internet Websites listed in this work may have changed or disappeared between when this work was written and when it is read. Trademarks: Wiley, the Wiley Publishing logo, CliffsNotes, the CliffsNotes logo, Cliffs, CliffsAP, CliffsComplete, CliffsQuickReview, CliffsStudySolver, CliffsTestPrep, CliffsNote-a-Day, cliffsnotes.com, and all related trademarks, logos, and trade dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc., and/or its affiliates. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Wiley Publishing, Inc., is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book. For general information on our other products and services or to obtain technical support, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 800-762-2974, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3993, or fax 317-572-4002. Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books. For more information about Wiley products, please visit our web site at www.wiley.com.
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Table of Contents Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 About This Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Organization of the Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Session One . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Session Two . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 The Multiple-Choice Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Scoring. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Listening and Writing for Information and Understanding . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Passage One . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Written Response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Passage Two . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Notes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Written Response. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Passage Three . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Notes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Written Response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Passage Four . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Written Response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Passage Five. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Written Response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Reading and Writing for Information and Understanding . . . . . . . . . . 39 Passage One . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Essay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Pro (For): . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Con (Against):. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Passage Two . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Essay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 Positive:. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 Negative: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
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Passage Three . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 Guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 Essay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 Pro (For):. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 Con (Against): . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 Passage Four . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 Guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 Essay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 Passage Five. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 Guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 Essay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 Passage Six . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82 Guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82 Essay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 Pro (For):. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 Con (Against): . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 Passage Seven . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 Guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 Essay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96 Passage Eight. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98 Guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98 Essay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Reading and Writing for Literary Response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107 Selection One . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107 Guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107 Controlling Idea Essay Outline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 Selection Two . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114 Guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115 Controlling Idea Essay Outline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 Selection Three . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122 Guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122 Controlling Idea Essay Outline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128 Selection Four . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129 Guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130 Controlling Idea Essay Outline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136 Selection Five . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137 Guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137 Controlling Idea Essay Outline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
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Reading and Writing for Critical Analysis and Evaluation . . . . . . . . . . 145 Essay One . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146 Essay Two . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147 Essay Three . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148 Essay Four . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149 Essay Five . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150 Essay Six . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151 Essay Seven . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152 Essay Eight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153 Essay Nine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
How to Write an Essay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157 Prewriting: How to Begin a Writing Assignment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157 The Steps in Writing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157 Types of Writing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158 Understanding Your Assignment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158 Understanding Your Audience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159 Guidelines for Choosing a Topic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160 Topic vs. Thesis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160 Writing a Thesis Statement. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161 Avoiding Fallacies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162 The Main Idea in Narratives and Personal Essays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162 Prewriting: How to Research and Organize . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163 Finding Examples and Evidence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163 Brainstorming, Taking Notes, and Outlining . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164 Using the Computer for Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164 The Importance of Specific Details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164 Plagiarism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165 Quoting and Paraphrasing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165 The Writing Assignment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166 The Research Paper. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166 Essays Arguing a Position from a Single Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166 Essays Analyzing a Literary Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167 Narrative, Descriptive, and Autobiographical Essays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167 Writing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167 Working from a Thesis Statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168 Spatial or Chronological Organization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168 Dividing a Subject into Categories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169 Organizing Essays of Comparison . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170 Inductive or Deductive Patterns of Organization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
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Order of Examples and Evidence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171 Connecting Paragraphs in an Essay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171 Outlining . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171 Informal Outlines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172 Formal Outlines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172 Sentence Outlines and Topic Outlines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173 Drafting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173 Suggestions for Introductions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174 The Paragraph . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175 Paragraph Length. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176 Paragraph Unity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176 Paragraph Coherence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177 Connecting Sentences Through Ideas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177 Connecting with Words and Phrases. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179 What to Avoid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180 Suggestions for Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180 Revising and Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181 Titles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181 Reviewing the First Draft. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182 Writing and Editing a Draft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182 Spell-Checking, Grammar-Checking, and Search-and-Replace Functions . . . 183 Preparing the Final Draft. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183 Checklist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183 Purpose, Audience, and Tone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184 Examples, Evidence, and Details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184 Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184 Language and Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184 Sentence Construction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185 Grammar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
Self-Evaluation Test with Answer Explanations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187 Answer Sheet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187 Session One. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190 Part A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190 Guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193 Multiple-Choice Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194 Part B . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196 Guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196 Multiple-Choice Questions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
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Session Two . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202 Part A. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202 Guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202 Multiple-Choice Questions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205 Part B . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208 Critical Lens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208 Guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208 Answer Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209 Answer Explanations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210 Session One, Part A. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210 Response: Part A. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211 Session One, Part B . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212 Response: Part B . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213 Session Two, Part A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214 Response: Part A. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215 Guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216 Controlling Idea Essay Outline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216 Critical Lens Essay. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
Sample Critical Lens Essay Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219 Essay One. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219 Critical Lens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219 Guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219 Essay Two . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220 Critical Lens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220 Essay Three . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220 Critical Lens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220 Essay Four . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220 Critical Lens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220 Essay Five . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220 Critical Lens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220 Essay Six . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221 Critical Lens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221 Essay Seven . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221 Critical Lens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221 Essay Eight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221 Critical Lens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221 Essay Nine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221 Critical Lens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221 Essay Ten . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222 Critical Lens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
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Essay Eleven . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222 Critical Lens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222 Essay Twelve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222 Critical Lens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222 Essay Thirteen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222 Critical Lens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222 Essay Fourteen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223 Critical Lens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
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Introduction About This Book Welcome to a unique book that will help you prepare for the New York State English Comprehensive Regents Examination. Why is it unique? Instead of presenting pages and pages of review material, like most other test preparation books, this book focuses solely on the test questions themselves. It has long been accepted that the more you practice on the types of questions that will appear on the actual examination, the better you will do on the final test. Therefore, what we’ve done for you in this book is present you with hundreds of questions and answers—all from previous Regents exams. In addition, we’ve also divided the book into chapters based on the types of questions that you will find on the actual English Regents. You will then find all of the multiple-choice questions and essay question that are of the same type, in a chapter together so you can practice answering those questions as you go along. We’ve provided the answer explanations right after each question to help reinforce your knowledge. Read the question, answer it to the best of your ability, and then immediately check the answer to see if it’s correct. We’ve tried to focus on the correct answers here, although when a question might be somewhat confusing, we’ve also explained why the other answers are incorrect. In most instances the correct answers are factual, and therefore, if you get the correct answer, there is no need to explain why the other answers are incorrect. As you go through the book, it’s up to you to answer the question before you look at the answers. You’re “on your honor” to test yourself. There’s no grade at the end, of course, so if you look at the answers first, you’re only cheating yourself. You want to practice answering test questions and writing essay answers as much as possible. A word about the essays in this book: Unlike many other books you’ve undoubtedly used for test preparation, we do not give you long, in-depth essays. Frankly, we don’t believe that reading someone else’s essay is much help to you. Instead we focus on the elements that comprise a good essay. Studies have shown that students often have trouble with the basic organization of an essay, which has led to poor writing skills. What we’ve given you are the basic elements of what should be in each essay. Each essay is followed by a general overview of how to organize your essay, what you should cover in it, and the basic elements of writing the essay. By studying these explanations, you will learn how to approach the actual essay questions on your final English Regents exam.
Organization of the Test The English Regents exam consists of two separate, three-hour exam periods over two consecutive days. This examination requires both multiple-choice questions as well as four essays, each structured
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CliffsTestPrep Regents English Workbook differently. The purpose of these four essays is to assess your ability to read, write, and listen. Based on New York State’s standards, you will be evaluated for the following: ■ ■ ■ ■
Information and understanding Literary response and expression Critical analysis and evaluation Social interaction
There are four separate parts to this exam.
Session One ■
Part A: Listening and Writing for Information and Understanding. A passage will be read aloud to you twice, and you will be able to take notes any time during the reading. You will then be asked to answer six multiple-choice questions and then write a persuasive essay, based on that passage, and following several guidelines for a specific audience.
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Part B: Reading and Writing for Information and Understanding. Following specific guidelines, you will again be asked to write another persuasive essay, and answer 10 multiple-choice questions, incorporating information based on two documents. One document will be a fairly long written passage and the other will normally be a chart or table.
Session Two ■
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Part A: Reading and Writing for Literary Response. You will be asked to develop an essay on a general theme from two different documents, usually one prose, the other a poem, but they may also be two passages or two poems. In addition there are 10 multiple-choice questions based on the material you have read. Part B: Reading and Writing for Critical Analysis and Evaluation. This final section is known as the “Critical Lens” essay. You will be given a brief quotation—the critical lens—which you must then use as the basis for an essay interpreting two literary works of your choice, often ones you have read in class. There are no multiple-choice questions on this section.
As you can see, the English Regents examination focuses on your reading and writing skills. To help you prepare for writing essays, we have included a special chapter called “How to Write an Essay.” It’s exactly what it sounds like—a step-by-step guide to the elements of good writing skills. All of the information in this section will come in handy during your preparation for this test. The most important element that is presented in this section is how to organize your writing, how to develop it based on what the tasks are, and what the audience is for whom you are writing. It’s worth reading carefully.
The Multiple-Choice Format Most of the standardized tests that you’ve probably taken throughout your educational career have contained multiple-choice questions. For some reason, these types of questions give a large percentage of test takers a difficult time. If you approach these questions carefully, they are easier than you think.
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Introduction Let’s analyze the concept of the multiple-choice question. Keep in mind that these questions are created to test your abilities to recognize the correct answer from four choices, at least on this specific exam. Other tests may have more or fewer choices. Questions are comprised of several parts: ■ ■ ■
The question stem The correct choice Distracters
As test-item writers create questions, they normally approach it as follows: ■
One choice is absolutely correct.
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One or two choices are absolutely incorrect (distracters). One or two choices may be similar to the correct answer, but might contain some information that is not quite accurate or on target, or even might not answer the specific question (distracters).
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How do you approach these questions? First, read the question and see whether you know the answer. If you know it automatically, then you can look at the choices and select the correct one. But keep in mind that the answers to the multiple-choice questions on the English Regents exam are based on specific material that you may have read or listened to. So it is important to keep this in mind as you go through the passages. Do not bring in any outside knowledge. Just focus on the question and the material on which it is based. The easiest way to answer a multiple-choice question is the time-honored approach of process of elimination—especially if you don’t know the answer right from the start. You start by eliminating choices that do not seem logical, or those that you know immediately are incorrect. If you can start by eliminating one of those choices, you now have only three choices left. You’ve reduced your odds of selecting the correct answer from one out of four (25 percent) to one out of three (331⁄3 percent), which is a lot better. Can you eliminate another answer choice? Perhaps one doesn’t sound quite right, or it doesn’t seem to pertain to the passage you just read. If you can eliminate another choice, you’ve increased your odds to one out of two (50 percent). Now, unless you know the correct answer, you can guess. Pay attention to words like always, never, or not. Most things in the world are not always or never, and you should be careful if a question asks you to choose which of the choices is NOT . . .! Watch the wording also on questions that state “All are correct EXCEPT . . .!”
Scoring The scoring on this test will be based on both your answers to the multiple-choice questions and the four essays. Since the multiple-choice questions are worth only 25 percent of the entire scoring, the focus should be on writing the essays. These essays will be read by at least two English teachers, and will be based on a six-point scoring rubric.
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CliffsTestPrep Regents English Workbook The exams are scored on a scale of 1 to 6, with 6 being the highest score. The essays are scored holistically, and the lowest scores (1 and 2) will not be considered passing scores. The score of 3 or 4 are middle grade scores, and 5 and 6 are the highest scores. The criteria for scoring the exam are derived from five qualities: meaning, development, organization, language use, and conventions. These qualities are applied to each of the four essays. The English Regents exam is not difficult, as long as you listen and read carefully. Practice answering the multiple-choice questions in the book to become familiar with the style and approach that you’ll find on the actual exam. Also, take the time to work out an approach to the various essays that you’ll find here. You don’t need to write entire essays, but you should try to write an outline for each, highlighting the important factors that relate to the question or task given in the question. Then compare it to the material provided by our authors. If you’ve omitted a lot of information in your outline, go back and reread the material again. Double-check the question or task. Try to determine what you overlooked. Remember that the more you practice, the better you will do on your actual test. It’s time to start working. Good luck!
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Listening and Writing for Information and Understanding In Session One of the New York State Regents Examination in Comprehensive English, you will listen to a passage that will be read aloud twice. Next, you will answer a section of multiple-choice questions. Multiple-choice questions fall into the following categories: ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
Recall—the answer can be found directly in the passage and recalled. Vocabulary—the listener must define a word from the passage, usually using context clues. Summarization—the listener must summarize the main idea of the passage. Analysis—the information in the passage must be interpreted or compared. Inference—the information is implied by the passage, but the listener must infer its meaning.
Most students find analysis and inference questions to be the most difficult because they involve interpretation and understanding that go beyond the passage itself. In order to properly prepare for this part of the test, it would be helpful to have someone read this passage aloud to you, so you can practice under a simulated test situation. Of course, since you will not see this passage on the actual exam, it would make sense not to look at it, if someone is going to read it to you. Listen to the passage twice and answer the multiple-choice questions.
Passage One Overview: For this part of the test, you will listen to a speech about medical doctors, answer some multiple-choice questions, and write a response based on the situation described below. You will hear the speech twice. You may take notes on the next page anytime you wish during the readings. The Situation: Your health class has been studying the roles of health-care workers. For a class project, you have decided to write a report in which you discuss the obligations of doctors toward their patients. In preparation for writing your report, listen to a speech by Dr. Margaret C. Heagarty to a new class of medical students. Then use relevant information from the speech to write your report. Your Task: Write a report for your health class in which you use relevant information from the speech to discuss the obligations of doctors toward their patients.
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Guidelines Be sure to . . . ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
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Tell your audience what they need to know about the obligations of doctors toward their patients. Use specific, accurate, and relevant information from the speech to support your discussion. Use a tone and level of language appropriate for a report for a health class. Organize your ideas in a logical and coherent manner. Indicate any words taken directly from the speech by using quotation marks or referring to the speaker. Follow the conventions of standard written English.
Listening Passage I am greatly honored to be asked to say a few words on what, with time, you will discover is one of the more memorable occasions of your lives. But given the distance in our ages, I have wondered what I can say to you that would not sound like banal clichés, what you could possibly hear and use as you take this first, symbolic step toward your goals in medicine. . . . My father was a physician, a country doctor who spent his life caring for the coal miners of West Virginia. When he graduated from the University of Georgia about 1928, he did not have vitamins, steroids, hormones, or antibiotics in his doctor’s bag. He did have a doctor’s bag and he did make house calls. At sixteen, I learned to drive on a World War II Jeep, accompanying him around the hills and hollers of West Virginia as he made those calls. . . . You begin medical studies at a time when the entire health-care system is in flux, when new challenges ranging from the aging of the nation’s population to the HIV virus to managed care will bedevil you over the next thirty-five years. And as I have meditated upon you, me, and my father, I have wondered what, if anything, links us. In the more than seventy-five years since my father began his journey in the profession, has medicine so changed that we have little to share with one another? But I believe that while the scientific knowledge base has broadened and changed, and the structure and the organization of the profession have surely changed—indeed dramatically in the past few years—the basic core of who we are and what we do has not changed and must not, ever. And that fundamental core can be found in an old-fashioned word, “vocation.” My basic message to you is that a vocation, by definition, is more, much more than simply an income-producing occupation. I believe you, as I and my father, have decided to become physicians out of some sort of idealistic need or calling to serve our fellow human beings. With this choice you, as I did, are about to embark upon a long and arduous novitiate during which you will not only be taught basic scientific knowledge and skills but also the social and ethical norms of the medical profession. Today you take your first vows as a member of this profession. . . . All of this may sound like obvious generalizations, but as I have thought about you, I suddenly realized that I have a personal and rather pragmatic stake in your future careers. For I am of the age when it is likely that very soon I will need to rely upon you or someone very like you for medical care. And I wondered what would I want from you, when I come to see you with my chest pain or my depression or my Parkinsonism.
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Listening and Writing for Information and Understanding Of course, I would assume that you are medically competent and have managed to keep up to date, more or less, with advances in science and therapeutics. But please note, I do not expect you to know it all, for that is impossible for any of us. More importantly, I do expect you to know what you don’t know and to be wise enough to recognize your own limitations; to know when to ask for help or consultation from colleagues. This decision can be among the most difficult for any physician; there is a very delicate balance between asking for help as against rejecting a patient out of insecurity or an unwillingness to make a difficult clinical decision. Of all the attributes a physician must develop, an awareness of one’s limitations and a recognition of one’s responsibilities to each patient are preeminent. Notice that if you do decide to send me to someone for consultation, I will continue, if you are my primary-care physician, to expect you to retain control of my medical care, to coordinate what any number of specialists may recommend. I do not want my medical care to be provided by a committee. I want someone who takes the ultimate responsibility and makes the ultimate decisions about what I may or may not need. But I would want much more. I would want to know that you have stayed true to your vocation. I would want you to listen to me, to hear my concerns—real or imagined—and to acknowledge and understand them. I would want you to understand that as a patient, I am, by definition, at the minimum anxious, if not scared to death. I would expect you to have learned how to comfort me, to relieve my terror. For the next year or so, the mysteries of anatomy, physiology, and the like will seem formidable to you. But the task of learning how to relate to your patients, how to develop caring for your patients—both those you enjoy and those you don’t much like—will be an equally if not more difficult task to master. And this skill is as important as any a physician possesses, certainly as important and sometimes more important than any high-tech diagnostic or therapeutic maneuver available to you. For much of what you will do as physicians will involve comfort, support, caritas [care]. Finally, I would want to be assured that you would do what is in my best interest, even if the managedcare plan places bureaucratic obstacles in your path. Indeed, I would expect you to fight for me, at whatever your personal cost, to ensure that I receive the care I need. Anything less would be a betrayal of the vows of your vocation. . . . —from “Beginning Doctors: A Word from the Wise” (October 23, 1998), ©1998 Commonweal Foundation, reprinted with permission. For subscriptions: www.commonwealmagazine.org.
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Notes Use this page to take notes on the Passage.
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1. The speaker’s description of her father as not having “vitamins, steroids, hormones, or antibiotics in his doctor’s bag” is used to emphasize the (1) (2) (3) (4)
changes that have occurred in medical practice since 1928. need for country doctors in the twenty-first century. lack of adequate training for country doctors both then and now. importance of communication between her father and his patients.
Correct answer: (1) This is an inference question. It is not stated directly in the passage. The reader must infer that in the time since the father graduated from medical school, in about 1928, medicine has changed with the addition of vitamins, steroids, hormones, and antibiotics. The description does not imply that there is a current need for country doctors, or that there is a lack of training for country doctors, so choices 2 and 3 are incorrect. Although the main theme of the passage is the importance of communication between doctors and their patients, the description of the doctor’s bag does not refer to this concept. 2. The speaker considers the practice of medicine to be a “vocation” because it (1) (2) (3) (4)
assures steady employment. serves the needs of others. provides high income and prestige. requires special skills.
Correct answer: (2) This is a recall question. The speaker defines vocation as “much more than simply an income-producing occupation.” She goes on to state that doctors had a “calling to serve our fellow human beings.” 3. According to the speaker, “an awareness of one’s limitations” is required in order for a physician to know (1) (2) (3) (4)
how to set reasonable fees. where to establish an office. when to seek assistance. why to become a doctor.
Correct answer: (3) This is a recall question. The stem of the question states “According to the speaker”; therefore, the information is in the passage. The speaker states, “Of all the attributes a physician must develop, an awareness of one’s limitations and a recognition of one’s responsibilities to each patient are preeminent.” With this knowledge, the physician can then decide whether to seek consultation.
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4. According to the speaker, in addition to skills in diagnosing diseases and prescribing therapies, a physician needs skill in (1) (2) (3) (4)
teaching techniques to colleagues. researching causes of diseases. reducing the number of injuries. providing comfort to patients.
Correct answer: (4) This is a recall question. The speaker states, “I would expect you to have learned how to comfort me, to relieve my terror.” 5. When the speaker refers to occasions when “the managed-care plan places bureaucratic obstacles in your path,” she is suggesting that (1) (2) (3) (4)
students may find it difficult to complete medical school. insurance companies may be unwilling to pay for some treatments. patients might not follow the advice of their doctors. contagious diseases may put doctors at risk.
Correct answer: (2) This is an analysis question. The speaker merely states that “managed-care plan places bureaucratic obstacles in your path,” suggesting that they won’t pay for some treatments. The bureaucratic obstacles do not make it difficult for students to complete medical school, so choice 1 is incorrect. Also, the obstacles do not relate to the problems posed in choices 3 and 4, so they are incorrect. 6. What technique does the speaker use to develop her ideas about the obligations of doctors? (1) (2) (3) (4)
She pictures herself as a patient of the listeners. She analyzes common misperceptions about doctors. She provides anecdotes about some of her patients. She reminds the listeners of their childhood illnesses.
Correct answer: (1) This is a summarization question. The listener must observe that the main idea of the passage is that the speaker is talking to doctors and placing herself in the position of a patient to demonstrate a patient’s needs. The passage is not about misconceptions about doctors, patients’ anecdotes, or childhood diseases, so the other choices are incorrect.
Written Response For this section you must also write a response. Carefully read the Overview, The Situation, Your Task, and Guidelines, as they provide directions and helpful information about the passage. The written response is usually in the following formats: ■ ■ ■
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An article A report The body of a letter
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Audience (who you’re writing for) Tone (the attitude of your expression) Opinion (whether you are being asked to agree or disagree with an issue)
Include all relevant information from the passage that supports your ideas. A good way to organize your writing would be a standard, three-paragraph format consisting of the following:
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Introduction Body
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Conclusion
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While the conclusion is merely a summary, you can use the guidelines to help you structure the first two paragraphs in the following manner: Introduction: Tell your audience what they need to know about the obligations of doctors toward their patients. Body: Use specific, accurate, and relevant information from the account to support your discussion. In the introductory paragraph, summarize the author’s main premise that practicing medicine should be a vocation, not “simply an income-producing occupation.” People must choose to be physicians out of an “idealistic need or calling,” and the main goal of a doctor is to serve his or her fellow human beings. While it is important that medical students be taught “scientific knowledge and skills,” it is just as important that they be schooled in the “social and ethical norms of the medical profession.” In the body, give proofs (examples) of the obligations of doctors toward their patients and the difficulty of fulfilling those obligations in the modern world of medicine. For example, although the speaker’s father was a doctor about 1928 and did not have the advantage of modern medicine like “vitamins, steroids, hormones, or antibiotics,” he made house calls that served his patients’ needs. He took his obligations as seriously as vows. Modern physicians, however, are plagued by a health-care system that is undergoing change. In the body of your report, make this distinction clear. They are faced with the challenges of an aging population, the HIV virus, and managed-care difficulties, but the speaker believes that the “basic core” of medicine “has not changed and must not, ever.” Describe how the speaker then puts herself in the role of an aging patient who needs the professional and personal help of a good physician. It is assumed that doctors are medically competent, but what she wants and needs is for physicians to be aware of their limitations and seek help from colleagues. In her opinion, the most important attributes a physician must develop are an awareness of his or her own limitations and the responsibility that each of them has to his or her patients. She also stresses that while consulting other doctors is important, she wants “someone who takes the ultimate responsibility and makes the ultimate decisions about what I may or may not need.”
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CliffsTestPrep Regents English Workbook Most importantly, she wants a physician “to listen to me, to hear my concerns—real or imagined—and to acknowledge and understand them” and “to comfort me, to relieve my terror.” Physicians must also do what is in the patient’s best interest, despite the “bureaucratic obstacles” of managed-care, and fight for their patients’ care—otherwise they have betrayed the vows of their vocation. In the concluding paragraph, summarize the premises established in the first paragraph and the need to solve the problems that were discussed in the body.
Passage Two Overview: For this part of the test, you will listen to an account about United States currency, answer some multiple-choice questions, and write a response based on the situation described below. You will hear the account twice. You may take notes on the next page anytime you wish during the readings. The Situation: Your social studies class is studying the international monetary system. You have been assigned to report on the evolution of the United States dollar. In preparation for writing your report, listen to an account by Daniel Gross. Then use relevant information from the account to write your report. Your Task: Write a report for your social studies class in which you discuss the evolution of the United States dollar.
Guidelines Be sure to . . . ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
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Tell your audience what they need to know about the evolution of the United States dollar. Use specific, accurate, and relevant information from the account to support your discussion. Use a tone and level of language appropriate for a report for a social studies class. Organize your ideas in a logical and coherent manner. Indicate any words taken directly from the account by using quotation marks or referring to the speaker. Follow the conventions of standard written English.
Listening Passage The Swedish krona and Bolivian boliviano aren’t merely answers to crossword puzzle clues, they’re meaningful national and historical symbols. Indeed, a nation’s self-image and identity is inextricably linked with its currency. But currencies come and go. Wars and revolutions cause new regimes to replace outmoded systems. More recently, the advent of the ecumenical Euro has dispatched 12 once-proud monetary systems to the pages of history. Given this, a currency that lasts for 200 years—say, the U.S. dollar, which has been legal tender since 1791—is a marvel. And it’s especially noteworthy that this nation, which self-consciously engages in constant reinvention, has stuck so fiercely to its ancient money. Of course, when you consider that the dollar is one of America’s greatest brands, this stubborn attachment to the greenback makes more sense.
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Listening and Writing for Information and Understanding The U.S. system of representative democracy and free markets may not be universally accepted. But the U.S. dollar sure is. It’s more graciously received around the globe than American Express and Visa combined. Ecuador uses the American dollar as its own currency, and local currencies from Hong Kong to Jamaica are pegged to the U.S. dollar. All of which shows a remarkable faith in what is really more an idea than a hard currency. “Money is a belief that has to be shared with other people,” notes Justin Goodwin, in his entertaining and discursive book, Greenback. As Goodwin shows, the mighty dollar has humble origins. In the sixteenth century, coins made in Joachimstal, which lies in a valley (a thal, in German) in what is now the Czech Republic, were widely used. That coin, and others like it, came to be known as the thaler—in English, the dollar. (Despite intrepid investigations, the origin of the $ symbol remains obscure.) When the English settled the New World, colonists used as currency things they had or found: corn, peas, rum, nails, and strings of beads and shells (what the Massachusetts Indians called wampum). The rare silver dollars that found their way into circulation were ineffective for small transactions, and frugal traders would knock them into eight pieces. (Which is why, to this day, people refer to a quarter as “two bits.”) Of course, paying for 20 acres of land with several barrels of rum didn’t prove an effective means of commerce. So the colonists turned to paper money. In 1691, Massachusetts became, in Goodwin’s words, “the first state since medieval China to issue its own paper currency.” And the question of how to establish a colonial paper currency occupied the leading minds of the colonies. Benjamin Franklin made his debut as a pamphleteer in 1729 with a piece titled “A Modest Enquiry into the Nature and Necessity of a PaperCurrency.” (His agitation for paper money was a little self-serving, because Franklin owned a chain of print shops in New England.) It wasn’t until 1775 that the newly established Continental Congress printed its own paper bills, calling them Continentals. These first dollars bore several features—the Great Seal, with the eagle, the pyramid with the disembodied eye on top, and the term E Pluribus Unum—variations of which survive to this day. But since these first bucks were backed only by the credit of the struggling colonial government, the bills depreciated rapidly. For much of the nineteenth century, printing money was generally the province of banks that obtained charters from states. By 1813, 208 banks were literally making money, from the Delaware City Bank to the Bank of Saint Nicholas in New York, whose bills featured Santa Claus. But not all dollars were created equal. In theory, every bill could be taken to the bank from which it was issued and redeemed for gold or silver. But due to significant distances and skepticism surrounding unfamiliar bills, a dollar bank note from a Massachusetts bank might be worth only 93 cents in Ohio, and even less in Indiana. The closest thing the young nation had to a national currency were the notes issued by the Philadelphia-based Bank of the United States, which had a 29-city branch network. But as the bank rose as a central power, President Andrew Jackson took it on in an epic political battle. The bank went out of business in 1841. The Civil War established the federal government as a force in currency. Faced with bare coffers—at the start of the war, the United States had just $200,000—and a need to pay the growing Union Army, the government in 1862 first issued notes on the credit of what remained of the United States. Black on the front and green on the back, they came to be known as “greenbacks.” But these war bucks quickly lost value as negative battlefield reports came in. The federal ten-cent bills were dubbed “shinplaster,” in part because they resembled the sort of paper one might use to plaster a sore leg, and in part because that was pretty much all they were good for. Nonetheless, the National Bank Act of 1863 gave the federal government the exclusive right to issue money.
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CliffsTestPrep Regents English Workbook The dollar would remain a poor stepsister to European currencies until the world’s financial center of gravity shifted after World War I across the Atlantic. With the Old World’s power in decline and the New World’s might in ascendance, shrewd European observers recognized a tectonic shift. “If the English pound is not to be the standard which everyone knows and can trust, the business not only of the British Empire but of Europe as well might have to be transacted in dollars instead of pounds sterling,” Winston Churchill declared in 1925. Even then, the dollar stood for something more than 100 cents. By the 1920s, Goodwin notes, it was “a brand like the other brands already beginning to conquer and even define aspects of the nation.” In fact, like Coca-Cola, Disney, McDonald’s, and Starbucks, the dollar has been one of the great global brands of the past century. People the world over seek it out and use it, not just because it meets a need, but because it conjures up a positive image in consumers’ minds, and because it stands for something that its competitors don’t. In many ways, Americans regard the dollar the way they do other consumer brands. Just as some long-time patrons rejected New Coke and didn’t swallow all the innovations in the traditional McDonald’s menu, so have Americans proved reluctant to accept changes to the dollar. Neither the $2 bill nor the Susan B. Anthony caught on. And the design tweaks introduced in the 1990s—intended to foil counterfeiters—were met with less than universal approval. For a forward-looking nation like the United States, our attitude toward the dollar may seem overly nostalgic. But with currencies, as is generally the rule in business, why mess with success? —from “Eight Bits,” Attaché, April 2003
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Notes Use this page to take notes on the Passage.
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1. The speaker refers to the United States dollar as “ancient” in order to stress the dollar’s (1) (2) (3) (4)
symbolic value. frequent changes. universal acceptance. long life.
Correct answer: (4) This is a vocabulary question. In the context of the passage, the United States dollar is described as “ancient” because it has been around for a long time and continues to exist. 2. What did early settlers of the New World use as currency? (1) (2) (3) (4)
Quarters Common items Paper money Land
Correct answer: (2) This is an analysis question. The speaker in the passage states “When the English settled the New World, colonists used as currency things they had or found: corn, peas, rum, nails, and strings of beads and shells (what the Massachusetts Indians called wampum). The rare silver dollars that found their way into circulation were ineffective for small transactions . . .” The reader must compare the first statement to the second to determine that the items listed are, indeed, common compared to the rarity of the silver dollar. The other choices are not supported by the passage. 3. A problem with the currencies printed by banks during the nineteenth century was that these dollars were (1) (2) (3) (4)
unequally valued. redeemable for gold. rapidly devalued. replaced by coins.
Correct answer: (1) This is a recall question. The speaker states that, “But not all dollars were created equal. In theory, every bill could be taken to the bank from which it was issued and redeemed for gold or silver. But due to significant distances and skepticism surrounding unfamiliar bills, a dollar bank note from a Massachusetts bank might be worth only 93 cents in Ohio, and even less in Indiana.” Therefore, it is clear why the currency was unequally valued.
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4. The federal government gained the exclusive right to print money during (1) (2) (3) (4)
the Revolutionary War. the Civil War. World War I. World War II.
Correct answer: (2) This is a recall question. The speaker states, “The Civil War established the federal government as a force in currency.” 5. The $2 bill and the Susan B. Anthony coin are noted in order to stress the dollar’s (1) (2) (3) (4)
positive image. difficulty to counterfeit. green and black color. resistance to change.
Correct answer: (4) This is a recall question. The speaker states, “. . . Americans proved reluctant to accept changes to the dollar. Neither the $2 bill nor the Susan B. Anthony caught on.” 6. The predominant organizational pattern of the account is (1) (2) (3) (4)
cause and effect. order of importance. chronological order. spatial order.
Correct answer: (3) This is an analysis question. After hearing the entire passage, it can be determined that the information is arranged according to time, going back to 1791 up through contemporary times. Therefore, it is not a matter of cause and effect, order of importance, or spatial order (relating to the nature of space), so the other choices can be eliminated.
Written Response A good way to organize your writing would be a standard, three-paragraph format consisting of the following: ■ ■ ■
Introduction Body Conclusion
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CliffsTestPrep Regents English Workbook While the conclusion is merely a summary, you can use the guidelines to help you structure the first two paragraphs in the following manner: Introduction: Tell your audience what they need to know about the evolution of the United States dollar. Body: Use specific, accurate, and relevant information from the account to support your discussion. In the introductory paragraph, establish the main premise that a nation’s self-image and identity is linked with its currency. It is noteworthy that the U.S. dollar has been legal tender since 1791 and is universally accepted around the world. This notion can be contrasted against the Euro, which has eliminated 12 monetary systems. In the body, give some historical background for the origins of the dollar. The name itself comes from the German word “thal,” which means valley. That is where coins were made in the sixteenth century in a city called Joachimstal. That coin came to be called a thaler, and, in English, it became known as the dollar. However, when the English came to the New World, common things like corn, peas, rum, nails, and strings of beads and shells were used for currency. Silver dollars were rare and not effective for small transactions. Traders would break them into eight pieces, hence the reason why a quarter is referred to as “two bits.” Paying for bigger purchases with commodities became ineffective, so, in 1691, Massachusetts became the first state to issue paper currency. The transition came when the Continental Congress printed its own paper bills in 1775. They were called Continentals. The features on these bills still exist today in some form. The Great Seal with the eagle, the pyramid with the one eye on top of it, and the familiar term E Pluribus Unum were on these original dollars. Unfortunately, these bills depreciated quickly because they were only backed by the credit of a then-struggling colonial government. For most of the nineteenth century, banks chartered by states printed money. Bills could be taken back to the individual bank and redeemed for gold or silver, but not all banks accepted all bills for their total value. The Civil War was the turning point because it established the federal government as the true force in currency. Money was needed to finance the war, so in 1862, notes were issued—black on the front and green on the back. They became known as greenbacks. However, these notes lost value because of negative battlefield reports. Even so, the National Bank Act of 1863 gave the federal government the exclusive right to issue money. Although the American dollar still did not have the status of European currencies, that changed after World War I when the financial “center of gravity” moved across the Atlantic. Winston Churchill declared in 1925 that the business of not only the British Empire but of all of Europe may have to be in dollars, not pounds sterling. After that point, the dollar has become “one of the greatest American brands of the past century.” Perhaps because of that, Americans have not accepted changes to the dollar like the Susan B. Anthony coin or a $2 bill. In the concluding paragraph, briefly and generally summarize the origin of the dollar, its shaky beginnings, and, ultimately, its success. For example, the dollar originated in sixteenth-century Germany from the word “thaler.” Printed money was at first unsuccessful because it was backed by an unstable colonial government. Then, banks, which were chartered by states, printed money. That didn’t work because bills could not be redeemed at every bank, but only the bank of origin. Finally, the Civil War established the federal government as the force in currency and, after World War I, American currency gained its true command over the world economy and became a “brand.”
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Passage Three Overview: For this part of the test, you will listen to a report about writing how-to books, answer some multiple-choice questions, and write a response based on the situation described below. You will hear the report twice. You may take notes on the next page anytime you wish during the readings. The Situation: Your school newspaper often publishes how-to articles (such as articles explaining how to play certain games or how to make or repair certain things). The editor has asked you to write a feature article offering student writers advice on writing successful how-to articles. In preparation for writing your feature article, listen to a report by Andy Gutelle, a writer of how-to sports books for children. Then use relevant information from the report to write your feature article. Your Task: Write a feature article offering student writers advice on writing successful how-to articles.
Guidelines Be sure to . . . ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
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Tell your audience what they need to know about writing successful how-to articles. Use specific, accurate, and relevant information from the report to support your discussion. Use a tone and level of language appropriate for a feature article for your school newspaper. Organize your ideas in a logical and coherent manner. Indicate any words taken directly from the report by using quotation marks or referring to the speaker. Follow the conventions of standard written English.
Listening Passage I want to talk to you a little bit about the process of writing a book that teaches kids how to play sports. In particular I want to talk about a soccer book that I recently finished. It is a follow-up to a baseball book for kids that I wrote two years ago. As I look at my notes, I see that they are a lot about research, too. I guess maybe that is the nature of nonfiction writing—that eventually you end up talking about your research. Although this book followed my baseball one, I found myself starting from a different position. When I wrote the baseball book, I had spent my whole life playing and watching baseball, and reading about it. I loved baseball, felt very confident talking about it and thinking about it. However, soccer was a different story. I knew very little about soccer. So this was one of those cases as a nonfiction writer when I needed to do a lot of research to learn my subject. To do this I combined several types of research. I began by looking at lots of other soccer books—kids’ books and adult books. The only books I avoided were ones that were too close or too similar in style to the instructional one I was about to do. I didn’t want to be influenced by other writers, so I put those books aside. At a later date, after I was well into my writing and felt confident that I knew where I was going, I did look to see what paths some other writers had taken.
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CliffsTestPrep Regents English Workbook In addition to book research, I went to the library and local video stores, and I took out every video on how to play soccer that I could find. Most of them were terribly written, but they were helpful in a particular way. They showed people kicking soccer balls, making passes, goalkeeping, and so on. I could stop the tape, rewind it, and look at it again and again. This gave me a chance to closely study the specific skills and break them down into steps that I could later describe to my readers. A third type of research that I did was on-line. I went to Yahoo, typed in “Soccer,” hit return, and the next thing I knew I was in Brazil reading about Brazilian football. More and more I find myself going online to do bits of research. I am somewhat suspicious about the facts that I find at times, but in this case it was a great opportunity to travel the world and see how soccer-crazy people really are. So I was getting a feeling about the game that was quite different from what I could find in any other way. There were two final kinds of research I did that were most important. First of all, I did a number of interviews. I interviewed soccer star Cobi Jones, who is listed as coauthor of the book. We spoke several times by telephone. I did not meet him in person, but Cobi is someone who is very relaxed and easy to talk to. So even though we did not meet face to face, he provided me with hours of information. I also relied on two other soccer experts. They came over from England about ten years ago and brought their soccer balls and love of the sport with them. They are in charge of all youth soccer near my home in Montclair, New Jersey. They have camps; they also run the town league and coach traveling teams. They were passionate about soccer, and they were eager to help. I also talked to soccer moms and soccer dads. I kept discovering people who were involved with the game, and I asked them what they thought children needed to know about it. In addition to interviews I did one final bit of research, which in my journalism-school days was called unobtrusive measures. I went out to a local park and spent as much time as I could watching kids play soccer. I watched little kids play and older ones, too. I watched boys and girls play, and noticed they approached the game differently. I made notes about that and about how they dressed and talked. When I was almost done with this last type of research, I began writing. The book went through four drafts. I gave it to my local soccer experts, and they ripped it apart, so I rewrote it. I gave it to them again, and they ripped it apart again, and I rewrote it. After I turned it in, the book’s illustrator, who happened to be a soccer dad, worried that my approach might be too British because of my experts. I didn’t think so, but I called my editor, and she agreed to give me a couple more weeks. I had a new expert read the manuscript. He is the assistant coach of the women’s soccer team at Yale University. So I went through minor revisions based on his comments. At this point I felt pretty confident that I was on the right track. I found that I felt better about the manuscript with each draft. In the end I doubt that I did more work than on my baseball book. But in this case my confidence grew steadily as I worked on the book. By the end I was pretty sure I knew what I was talking about. The book is due out this fall, and I hope it will be as well received as my baseball book. Several years ago I saw a Siskel and Ebert show about movie series like the Pink Panther and James Bond. It was their theory that the second movie in a series is the critical one because it defines whether the basic approach has enough life and strength to it to be done again and again. I feel that way about my soccer book. It has solidified my approach to writing “how-to” sports books. With a little luck, some time in the future I may be writing a basketball book, a football one, and others, too. —“The Process of Writing How-To Books” from “Writing for Children: The Report of the 1998 Highlights Foundation Writers Workshop at Chautauqua,” ©Highlights Foundation, Inc.
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Notes Use this page to take notes on the Passage.
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1. The speaker implies that his approach to writing a how-to book depends in part on (1) (2) (3) (4)
the deadlines imposed by the publisher. the intended audience for the book. his confidence in his writing skills. his familiarity with the subject.
Correct answer: (4) The author goes through a series of researching methods in order to become better acquainted with the subject. He does not depend solely on one type of research; he conducts interviews, observes, watches and analyzes videos, and so on. Choice 1 is incorrect because his publisher seems to be lenient with giving extensions on his projects. Choice 2 is incorrect because that is one of his major focuses, and choice 3 is incorrect because he does have confidence in his writing; it was the technique and the minor details that forced the author to continue with his rewriting. 2. While researching soccer, the speaker initially avoided reading books that were similar to his intended book in (1) (2) (3) (4)
style. subject. audience. length.
Correct answer: (1) If the author read other how-to books, being the same style they could have had a major influence on his writing. The passage states, “The only books I avoided were ones that were too close or too similar in style to the instructional one I was about to do. I didn’t want to be influenced by other writers, so I put those books aside.” Choice 2 is incorrect because he needed to research books with the same subject in order to acquire additional knowledge on the subject. Choice 3 is incorrect because this answer goes along with choice 2. Choice 4 is incorrect because length has nothing to do with why the author would not read a book. 3. According to the speaker, his on-line research about soccer was most useful for (1) (2) (3) (4)
finding reliable information about his subject. discovering people’s interests in his subject. communicating with experts in his subject. locating suitable illustrations of his subject.
Correct answer: (2) The evidence lies in the passage, which states “ . . . it was a great opportunity to travel the world and see how soccer-crazy people really are.” Choice 1 is incorrect because many times on-line sources are not reliable. The author mentions this in the passage when he states “I am somewhat suspicious about the facts that I find at times . . .” Choice 3 is incorrect because he did not communicate with experts on-line, he did so in telephone conversations with Cobi Jones. Choice 4 is incorrect because he does not find the illustrations on-line, but in books, observing first-hand, and watching videos.
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4. The speaker’s “unobtrusive measures,” consisted of his (1) (2) (3) (4)
organizing notes. practicing skills. observing participants. discussing techniques.
Correct answer: (3) Replace an unfamiliar word with a synonym in order to stay on track with the questions. Replace “unobtrusive” with “humble” or “modest.” The simplest approach would be to go and watch those who love soccer play the sport. The author even states this in the passage, “In addition to interviews, I did one final bit of research, which in my journalism-school days was called unobtrusive measures. I went out to a local park and spent as much time as I could watching kids play soccer.” Therefore from the evidence, choices 1, 2, and 4 are incorrect. 5. The illustrator’s comment that the book’s “approach might be too British” reflects a concern that the (1) (2) (3) (4)
publisher might be biased. book might be expensive. information might be outdated. audience might be confused.
Correct answer: (4) The book’s illustrator, who was also a soccer dad, was concerned that the book might be too confusing based on the experts the author referred to for his information. Choice 1 is incorrect because the editor allows the author extra time to revise his work. Choice 2 is incorrect because there is no evidence that the book would be too expensive. Choice 3 is incorrect because soccer is always played the same, and doesn’t necessarily change over time, also there is no evidence of this in the passage. 6. According to the speaker, the task of having to rewrite his manuscript several times increased his feelings of (1) (2) (3) (4)
anticipation. confidence. frustration. fatigue.
Correct answer: (2) Even though the author had to rewrite the book several times, he feels that because of the theory of Siskel and Ebert, he still has the strength to write additional pieces of the same style of writing. The author states “I feel that way about my soccer book. It has solidified my approach to writing ‘how-to’ sports books.” Choice 1 is incorrect because even though the author might have continuously anticipated publication, it is stated that confidence has overpowered this feeling of anticipation. Choice 3 is incorrect because the passage does not suggest that the author was frustrated at all during his writing process; he only wants his work to be valuable to his readers. Choice 4 is incorrect because there is no evidence in the text that the author becomes tired of writing his how-to book.
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Written Response Introduction: The method for writing how-to books can be extremely tedious and time-consuming. Andy Gutelle, the author of several how-to sports books for children, explains in detail his methods of approaching how-to writing as well as the techniques to successful revision. Paragraph 1: There are several ways to go about approaching your research material. Gutelle covered every inch of research by learning about soccer from every possible angle. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Reading books on soccer—avoiding other how-to books Watching videos Talking to experts and soccer moms and dads Observing the sport first-hand Researching materials on-line—be careful that all information is accurate!
Paragraph 2: Revision can be tedious, but in the end, a successful product is worth all of the work. 1. How many times did Gutelle revise? 2. Why did he revise several times? 3. Theory of a successful work and more to come Siskel and Ebert’s theory is that “the second movie in a series is the critical one because it defines whether the basic approach has enough life and strength to it to be done again and again.” Conclusion: Gutelle believes that all of the work in his research process and the revisions that he did were all worth it in the end. It has solidified his approach to writing how-to books in the future and he will continue to write on other sports topics. If we use a similar approach to Gutelle’s, we, too, can become successful writers.
Passage Four Overview: For this part of the test, you will listen to an account about saving the ocean environment, answer some multiple-choice questions, and write a response based on the situation described below. You will hear the account twice. You may take notes on the next page anytime you wish during the readings. The Situation: In order to increase membership in the environmental club at your school, you have decided to give a presentation to students in your school on saving the ocean environment. In preparation for writing your presentation, listen to an account about the ocean environment by Peter Benchley, author of the novel Jaws. Then use relevant information from the account to write your presentation. Your Task: Write a presentation for students in your school on saving the ocean environment as a way of persuading students to join the environmental club.
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Guidelines Be sure to . . . ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
■
Tell your audience what they need to know about saving the ocean environment. Use specific, accurate, and relevant information from the account to support your discussion. Use a tone and level of language appropriate for a presentation to students in your school. Organize your ideas in a logical and coherent manner. Indicate any words taken directly from the account by using quotation marks or referring to the speaker. Follow the conventions of standard written English.
Listening Passage More than twenty years ago, I set out to write a story about a town menaced by a marine predator. Intrigued by a newspaper item about a fisherman who had caught a 4,550-pound great white shark off the coast of Long Island, I wondered what would happen if such a creature were to visit a resort community . . . and wouldn’t go away. . . . My ambitions for the story were modest, my expectations for its commercial prospects were nil. For one thing, it would be a first novel, and conventional wisdom held that nobody read first novels. For another, it was a first novel about an unlikely subject, a fish. I knew the story couldn’t be filmed; no one could catch and train a shark to perform for the cameras, and movie technology wasn’t sophisticated enough to create a credible animal. So much for what I knew. I’ve often been asked why Jaws became the weird cultural phenomenon it did, and to this day I have no satisfactory answer. Luck played a part, certainly; so did timing; so did my inadvertent tapping of a profound, subconscious, atavistic [natural] fear in the public, fear not only of sharks but of the sea itself, of deep water and of the unknown. I do know one thing, however: if I were to try to write Jaws today, I couldn’t do it. Or, at least, the book I would write would be vastly different and, I surmise, much less successful. I see the sea today from a new perspective, not as an antagonist but as an ally, rife less with menace than with mystery and wonder. And I know I am not alone. Scientists, swimmers, scuba divers, snorkelers, and sailors all are learning that the sea is worthy more of respect and protection than of fear and exploitation. Twenty years may be but a wink in the long span of humanity’s relationship with the sea, but since the early 1970s our knowledge of and attitude toward the oceans and the animals that live in them have grown and changed more than at any time in history. Today I could not, for instance, portray the shark as a villain, especially not as a mindless omnivore that attacks boats and humans with reckless abandon. We know now, as we didn’t then, that the majority of shark attacks on human beings are accidents (often cases of mistaken identity), that a person has a much greater chance of being killed by lightning, bee stings, or feral pigs than by sharks, and that even the most formidable great white shark does not attack boats: rather, responding to complex and confusing electromagnetic signals in the water, it tests a boat, exploring it with its mouth to determine if it is edible. (Of course, if a 3,000-pound shark chooses to sample a scuba diver, believing it to be a sea lion, apologies may be a bit late to mean much.)
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CliffsTestPrep Regents English Workbook No, the shark in an updated Jaws could not be the villain; it would have to be written as the victim, for, worldwide, sharks are much more the oppressed than the oppressors. Every year, more than a hundred million sharks are slaughtered by man. It has been estimated that for every human life taken by a shark, 4.5 million sharks are killed by humans. And rarely for a useful purpose. Many are killed because they are perceived as a nuisance; others are drowned on lines or in nets and discarded as waste. I have seen the sea bottom off Costa Rica littered with the bodies of sharks that were stripped of their fins—to make soup in Asia—and thrown back into the water to die. Sharks are far from being the only animals subject to this waste of precious resources; in the shrimp trawl fishery, for example, nine pounds of sea life are killed and discarded for every pound of shrimp harvested. Warning flags are already flying. In 1989, after forty years of steady increase, the world’s fish catch declined as a direct result of overfishing. Salmon have disappeared from parts of the Pacific. Catches of cod and bass have been severely limited, in desperate hope of preventing the extinction of entire species. In 1992, the Canadian Government closed down the cod fishery off Newfoundland, and 50,000 people were thrown out of work. . . . Overfishing is not the only threat to the oceans, nor is it only those whose lives depend on the sea who are at risk and at fault. We are all guilty, and we will all pay the price of ignorance, neglect, and abuse. When we flush our untreated waste into streams, rivers, and the sea, nitrogen and phosphorus disrupt nature’s balance by supporting algal blooms and a consequent depletion of oxygen to the point where marine life cannot survive. Parts of many bays and sounds are already practically dead zones. When toxic chemicals, from those under our kitchen sinks to the by-products of industry, run off into coastal waters, they may enter the food chain and contaminate the fish we eat—sometimes with devastatingly tragic results. When we drive our cars on roads that border waterways, rain washes oil residue into the water, causing more widespread, long-term pollution than any spill from a grounded tanker, pollution that weakens marine wildlife when it doesn’t kill directly. Overall, spills from ships account for only 5 percent of the oil in the oceans. The yearly runoff of petroleum products from a metropolitan area of five million people is approximately the same—11 million gallons—as the amount of oil spilled from the Exxon Valdez. When we build along precarious coastlines and estuaries, the wetland borders where rivers meet the ocean, we often destroy habitats that support a multitude of useful and beautiful creatures. In the United States, crabs, oysters, clams, and shrimp that were once plentiful are no longer. When we cut down trees and strip hillsides bare, rains wash soil into rivers and streams and out to sea, fouling the breeding grounds of salmon and trout and other animals. Silt from tropical deforestation chokes the living coral that makes up barrier reefs, the habitat of thousands of species whose ultimate value has not even been explored by science. The ways we are nourished by the sea, the ways our lives benefit from the sea—materially as well as spiritually—are nearly infinite. And we are well on our way to ruining it all. What madness that would be. What suicidal folly. With luck, the tide of devastation can be turned before it results in irreversible catastrophe. There are already a few hopeful signs. Thanks to environmental legislation, the water quality of some of our rivers and bays has begun to recover. Some fish stocks have been renewed. Restrictions on the catching of striped bass, for example, have brought the species back from what may have been the brink of extinction. Ocean-dumping regulations have been tightened. The use of enormous drift nets—some as much as forty miles long—has been banned on the high seas.
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Listening and Writing for Information and Understanding Modern telecommunications allow scientists to assess the size and locations of fish stocks, and to detect problems such as silting and pollution earlier than ever before. To be successful, however, more and more of us will have to change our attitude toward the sea, away from our sense of species superiority and our conviction that every living thing on the planet exists solely to satisfy our caprices, wants and needs, and toward an appreciation of the commonweal and of the unity and mutual dependence inherent in nature’s design. —Ocean Planet: Writing and Images of the Sea, ©1995 Peter Benchley. Published by Harry N. Abrams, Inc., New York. All rights reserved.
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Notes Use this page to take notes on the Passage.
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1. The bodies of sharks whose fins were used for soup were found near (1) (2) (3) (4)
Newfoundland. Costa Rica. Long Island. Cape Cod.
Correct answer: (2) This is a recall question. The speaker states that, “I have seen the sea bottom off Costa Rica littered with the bodies of sharks that were stripped of their fins—to make soup in Asia—and thrown back into the water to die.” 2. The harvesting of shrimp is used as an example of (1) (2) (3) (4)
wasteful practices. growing conservation. useful technology. increasing harvests.
Correct answer: (1) This is a recall question. The account states that, “. . . in the shrimp trawl fishery, for example, nine pounds of sea life are killed and discarded for every pound of shrimp harvested.” 3. In addition to the shark, sea life noted in the account as being seriously harmed includes (1) (2) (3) (4)
lobster. whales. scallops. salmon.
Correct answer: (4) This is a recall question. Because of overfishing, the account states that, “Salmon have disappeared from parts of the Pacific.” 4. The greatest source of oil pollution in the ocean comes from (1) (2) (3) (4)
fishing vessels. oil tankers. passenger cars. underwater pipelines.
Correct answer: (3) This is a recall question. Comparisons of pollution are made, and it’s stated that, “When we drive our cars on roads that border waterways, rain washes oil residue into the water, causing more widespread, long-term pollution than any spill from a grounded tanker . . .”
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5. As used in the text, the phrase “fouling the breeding grounds” means (1) (2) (3) (4)
draining them. cultivating them. flooding them. dirtying them.
Correct answer: (4) This is a vocabulary question. If the reader doesn’t know the meaning of the word “foul,” the context of the sentence in which it is heard describes the following: “When we cut down trees and strip hillsides bare, rains wash soil into rivers and streams and out to sea, fouling the breeding grounds of salmon and trout and other animals.” Dirt entering breeding grounds would be capable of “dirtying them.” 6. The speaker labels mankind’s pollution of the sea as “suicidal folly” because the pollution (1) (2) (3) (4)
destroys beaches. endangers humankind. fosters environmental legislation. scatters in ocean water.
Correct answer: (2) This is an analysis question. The account proves that pollution is killing sea life that is a food source for humankind; therefore, indirectly, we are committing suicide by depriving ourselves of a rich source of food. While choices 1, 3, and 4 reference the problem of pollution and the need for legislation, they make no reference to the suicidal effects of pollution.
Written Response For this section you must also write a response. Carefully read the Overview, The Situation, Your Task, and Guidelines, as they provide directions and helpful information about the passage. The written response is usually in the following formats: ■ ■ ■
An article A report The body of a letter
Be aware of: ■ ■ ■
Audience (who you’re writing for) Tone (the attitude of your expression) Opinion (whether you are being asked to agree or disagree with an issue)
Include all relevant information from the passage that supports your ideas.
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Listening and Writing for Information and Understanding A good way to organize your writing would be a standard, three-paragraph format consisting of the following: ■ ■ ■
Introduction Body Conclusion
While the conclusion is merely a summary, you can use the guidelines to help you structure the first two paragraphs in the following manner: Introduction: Tell your audience what they need to know about saving the ocean environment. Body: Use specific, accurate, and relevant information from the account to support your discussion. In your introductory paragraph, summarize the author’s main premise that although Jaws was a successful book, he couldn’t write the same story today. He now sees the sea as an ally not an antagonist, and that it is “worthy of respect and protection rather than fear and exploitation.” The shark is not a threat to humankind, and lightning, bee stings, or feral (wild) pigs kill more humans than sharks do. As a result, the shark is not the villain but the victim as they are slaughtered at the rate of a hundred million sharks a year. They are not the only victim in the waste of precious sea resources. As a result, the ocean environment needs to be saved. In the body, give proofs (examples) of how the sea and its creatures are threatened by humankind and what can be done about it. One threat is through overfishing. For example, many sharks are stripped of their fins to make soup in Asia and just thrown back in the water to die. For every pound of fish harvested, nine pounds of sea life are killed. Salmon are no longer in parts of the Pacific and catches of bass and cod have been limited for fear of extinction of those species. Another threat is through pollution. Untreated waste is dumped into streams, rivers, and the sea and cause algal blooms that deplete the oxygen so marine life can’t survive. Toxic chemicals, from household cleaning products to the by-products of industry, run off into the coastal waters and contaminate the food chain. Even oil residue left by cars on roads near waterways can be washed into the sea by rain. This constant pollution is approximately the same as the amount of oil spilled by the Exxon Valdez— 11 million gallons. A third threat is building and development. Wetland habitats are destroyed by building along coastlines and estuaries and crabs, oysters, clams, and shrimp are no longer plentiful. Cutting down trees allows soil to wash down into rivers and streams, fouling the breeding grounds of trout, salmon, and other animals. There are some hopeful signs, however. Environmental legislation has improved water quality. Fish stocks have been renewed and restrictions of catching striped bass have saved the species from extinction. Also, dumping in the ocean has been regulated more. The use of 40-mile drift nets has been banned. Telecommunications help scientists tell the size and location of fish stocks and monitor pollution. However, more still needs to be done, and humankind must not feel superior to the sea and its creatures. In the concluding paragraph, summarize the premises established in the first paragraph and the need to solve the problems that were discussed in the body.
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Passage Five Overview: For this part of the test, you will listen to an account by Christopher Reeve, answer some multiple-choice questions, and write a response based on the situation described below. You will hear the account twice. You may take notes on the next page anytime you wish during the readings. The Situation: Your school is celebrating Diversity Day. As a member of the publicity committee, you have been asked to write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper promoting the accomplishments of individuals with disabilities. In preparation for writing your letter, listen to an account by actor and director Christopher Reeve. Then use relevant information from the account to write your letter. Your Task: Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper for Diversity Day discussing actor and director Christopher Reeve’s accomplishments. Write only the body of the letter.
Guidelines Be sure to . . . ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
■
Tell your audience what they need to know about Christopher Reeve’s accomplishments. Use specific, accurate, and relevant information from the account to support your discussion. Use a tone and level of language appropriate for a letter to the editor of a local newspaper. Organize your ideas in a logical and coherent manner. Indicate any words taken directly from the account by using quotation marks or referring to the speaker. Follow the conventions of standard written English.
Listening Passage . . . I consider myself extremely fortunate because my schedule is so varied. Many patients have no choice but to become stuck in a routine, which of course makes it hard for them to be optimistic about the future. But I’m able to travel, to visit scientists in their laboratories and hear about progress in research months before the results are published in scientific journals. Thanks to the generosity of groups that hire me for speaking engagements, I’ve appeared all over the country, sharing my experiences and creating more awareness about the disabled. Often I speak at rehab centers and talk about what I’ve learned with other spinal cord patients. I had the opportunity to direct a film, which gave me great creative satisfaction and kept me from thinking so much about myself. I spend much of my time planning events to raise money for the Christopher Reeve Foundation. In our first year of operation we raised more than $750,000; 70 percent of it went to the APA [American Paralysis Association] and the rest to groups dedicated to quality of life issues of the disabled. I was also involved in the creation of a paid commercial called Circle of Friends to benefit the APA. I approved the script and called friends like Paul Newman, Mel Gibson, and Meryl Streep as well as a number of scientists to ask for their participation. . . .
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Listening and Writing for Information and Understanding People often ask me what it’s like to have sustained a spinal cord injury and be confined to a wheelchair. Apart from all the medical complications, I would say the worst part of it is leaving the physical world— having had to make the transition from participant to observer long before I would have expected. I think most of us are prepared to give up cherished physical activities gradually as we age. I certainly wouldn’t be competing in combined training events in my sixties or skiing nearly as fast as I used to. If I went sailing in my later years I wouldn’t go single-handed. Stronger arms and more agile bodies would be needed to raise and trim the sails or steer in a heavy sea. . . . When the first Superman movie came out, I gave dozens of interviews to promote it. The most frequently asked question was: “What is a hero?” I remember how easily I’d talk about it, the glib response I repeated so many times. My answer was that a hero is someone who commits a courageous action without considering the consequences. A soldier who crawls out of a foxhole to drag an injured buddy back to safety, the prisoners of war who never stop trying to escape even though they know they may be executed if they’re caught. And I also meant individuals who are slightly larger than life: Houdini and Lindbergh of course, John Wayne and JFK, and even sports figures who have taken on mythical proportions, such as Babe Ruth or Joe DiMaggio. Now my definition is completely different. I think a hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles. The fifteen-year-old boy down the hall at Kessler [Rehabilitation Hospital] who had landed on his head while wrestling with his brother, leaving him paralyzed and barely able to swallow or speak. Travis Roy, paralyzed in the first eleven seconds of a hockey game in his freshman year at college. Henry Steifel, paralyzed from the chest down in a car accident at seventeen, completing his education and working on Wall Street at age thirty-two, but having missed so much of what life has to offer. These are real heroes, and so are the families and friends who have stood by them. At UVA [The University of Virginia Health Sciences Center] and at Kessler, I always kept the picture of the Pyramid of Quetzalcoatl in front of me. I would look at the hundreds of steps leading up to the clouds and imagine myself climbing slowly but surely to the top. That desire sustained me in the early days after my injury, but during the next couple of years I had to learn to face the reality: you manage to climb one or two steps, but then something happens and you fall back three. The worst of it is the unpredictability. Several times I’ve made a commitment to appear at a function or give a speech, but the night before, or even that morning, a skin tear, or dysreflexia, or a lung infection suddenly developed and I had to go to the hospital instead. Climbing up the steps, I’ve appeared at the Oscars, spoken at the Democratic Convention, directed a film, written this book, worked on political issues, and traveled more extensively than most high-level quadriplegics. But, falling backwards, I’ve been hospitalized eleven times for dysreflexia, pneumonia, a collapsed lung, a broken arm, two blood clots, a possible hip fracture, and the infection in my left ankle that nearly resulted in the partial amputation of my leg. . . . The sensory deprivation hurts the most: I haven’t been able to give [my son] Will a hug since he was two years old, and now he’s five and a half. Dana and I decided not to have another child; it would be too painful not to be able to hold and embrace this little creature the way I did with the others. The physical world is still very meaningful to me; I have not been able to detach myself from it and live entirely in my mind. While I believe it’s true that we are not our bodies, that our bodies are like houses we live in while we’re here on earth, that concept is more of an intellectual construct than a philosophy I can live by on a daily basis. I’m jealous when someone talks about a recent skiing vacation, when friends embrace each other, or even when Will plays hockey in the driveway with someone else.
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CliffsTestPrep Regents English Workbook If someone were to ask me what is the most difficult lesson I’ve learned from all this, I’m very clear about it: I know I have to give when sometimes I really want to take. I’ve realized instinctively that it’s part of my job as a father now not to cause Will to worry about me. If I were to give in to self-pity or express my anger in front of him, it would place an unfair burden on this carefree five-year-old. If I were to turn inward and spend my time mourning the past, I couldn’t be as close to [my children] Matthew and Alexandra, two teenagers who naturally need to turn to me for advice. And what kind of life would it be for Dana if I let myself go and became just a depressed hulk in a wheelchair? All of this takes effort on my part, because it’s still very difficult to accept the turn my life has taken, simply because of one unlucky moment. . . . —from Still Me by Christopher Reeve, ©1998 by Cambria Productions, Inc. Used by permission of Random House, Inc.
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Notes Use this page to take notes on the Passage.
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1. Reeve’s sense of selflessness is reflected through his (1) (2) (3) (4)
book writing. film directing. fundraising efforts. therapy sessions.
Correct answer: (3) This is an analysis question. Book writing, film directing, and therapy sessions would directly benefit Mr. Reeve; whereas, fundraising is his effort to help others. Therefore, it demonstrates selflessness. 2. Since his injury, Reeve has revised his definition of hero from someone who performs a courageous act regardless of consequences to someone who (1) (2) (3) (4)
persists through adversity. has worldwide respect. puts others first. defends the powerless.
Correct answer: (1) This is a recall question. Reeve states, “I think a hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles.” 3. The hardest psychological adjustment for Reeve was from (1) (2) (3) (4)
actor to lecturer. protagonist to antagonist. laborer to employer. doer to watcher.
Correct answer: (4) This is an inference question. The words “doer” and “watcher” were not said by Mr. Reeve. However, he does state, “. . . I would say the worst part of it is leaving the physical world— having had to make the transition from participant to observer . . .” The listener would have to infer that participant means doer, and observer means watcher. 4. Reeve uses the steps of the Pyramid at Quetzalcoatl to explain his changed attitude toward (1) (2) (3) (4)
seeking adventure. measuring progress. accepting help. judging others.
Correct answer: (2) This is an analysis question. The listener would have to interpret Reeve’s use of the picture of the Pyramid of Quetzalcoatl as a metaphor. The climbing of the steps to the top is the measure of his progress toward recovery.
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5. Reeve uses the term “falling backward” to refer to his (1) (2) (3) (4)
disabling accident. social engagements. lost time. medical setbacks.
Correct answer: (4) This is an analysis question; it is also an example of scaffolding because it builds on the information in the previous question. “Falling backward” refers to the metaphor of climbing the steps of the pyramid. As Reeve made progress toward the top (recovery), he has had setbacks that caused him to fall backward. 6. An example of Reeve’s “sensory deprivation” is his inability to (1) (2) (3) (4)
embrace physically. think logically. communicate clearly. travel extensively.
Correct answer: (1) This is a recall question. Reeve states, “The sensory deprivation hurts the most: I haven’t been able to give [my son] Will a hug since he was two years old, and now he’s five and a half.”
Written Response A good way to organize your writing would be a standard, three-paragraph format consisting of the following: ■ ■ ■
Introduction Body Conclusion
While the conclusion is merely a summary, you can use the guidelines to help you structure the first two paragraphs in the following manner: Introduction: Tell your audience what they need to know about Christopher Reeve’s accomplishments. Body: Use specific, accurate, and relevant information from the account to support your discussion. In your introductory paragraph, stress how Christopher Reeve considers himself fortunate because of his varied schedule in helping others, even though he was badly injured in an accident. This establishes your main premise that Mr. Reeve is dedicated to his cause and has many accomplishments. He visits scientists in laboratories to hear about the latest research before it is published, does speaking engagements about the disabled, and visits rehab centers to learn from other spinal cord patients. He also had the opportunity to direct a film but is quick to point out that it was for his own creative satisfaction, and it “kept me from thinking so much about myself.” This demonstrates his selflessness.
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CliffsTestPrep Regents English Workbook In the body, give other proofs (examples) of Mr. Reeve’s accomplishments. For example, he established the Christopher Reeve Foundation and planned events that raised more than $750,000 in the first year of operation. Seventy percent of that money went to the American Paralysis Association, and the remainder went to other groups dedicated to quality of life issues of the disabled. He was also involved in creating a paid commercial called Circle of Friends; this benefited the APA too. Mr. Reeve has appeared at the Oscars, spoken at the Democratic Convention, and traveled extensively for his causes. What has greatly affected his efforts is his newfound belief that a hero “is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles.” He admires the courage of a 15-year-old boy who was paralyzed while wrestling. Mr. Reeve thinks Travis Roy, who was paralyzed in a hockey game, and Henry Steifel, who was paralyzed in a car accident, are “real heroes.” He is inspired by them and others, and that is what fuels his desire to help disabled people. Even though he has fallen backwards in his own recovery, he is still motivated by the picture of the Pyramid of Quetzalcoatl that he keeps in front of him and imagines himself climbing those steps. He regrets when he is too ill and has to cancel a speaking engagement; that demonstrates his commitment to the cause of the disabled. What hurts him the most is sensory deprivation, especially not being able to hug his young son, but he realizes he has to be strong for his children and his wife, as he is always conscious of serving others over and above himself. In the concluding paragraph, summarize the premise established in the first paragraph and Christopher Reeve’s contributions to helping the disabled.
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Reading and Writing for Information and Understanding In this section, you will read a passage, look at a graphic, respond to multiple-choice questions, and provide a written response. On the actual exam, this would be Session One, Part B.
Passage One Directions: Read the text and study the timeline on the following pages, answer the multiple-choice questions, and write a response based on the situation described below. You may use the margins to take notes as you read and scrap paper to plan your response. The Situation: Members of the governing body of your community are discussing ways to reduce juvenile crime. They have proposed a curfew for youths under the age of 17. You have decided to write a speech to deliver during the public comment portion of their next meeting in which you agree or disagree that a youth curfew is an effective way to reduce juvenile crime in your community. Your Task: Using relevant information from both documents, write a speech to be given to members of the governing body of your community in which you agree or disagree that a youth curfew is an effective way to reduce juvenile crime in your community.
Guidelines Be sure to . . . ■ ■
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Tell your audience what they need to know about youth curfews. Indicate whether you agree or disagree that a youth curfew is an effective way to reduce juvenile crime in your community. Use specific, accurate, and relevant information from the text and the timeline to support your opinion. Use a tone and level of language appropriate for a speech for members of the governing body of your community. Organize your ideas in a logical and coherent manner. Indicate any words taken directly from the text by using quotation marks or referring to the author. Follow the conventions of standard written English.
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Teen Curfews
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Over the past several years, concern about juvenile crime and teenagers’ safety has led many U.S. cities to enact teen-curfew laws. Such laws make it illegal for youths under a certain age—usually 16 or 17—to be in public places during specified hours, usually between 11 p.m. or midnight and dawn. While the overall crime rate has declined for the past four years in the U.S., the juvenile violentcrime rate, comprising murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault, has climbed, except for 1995. In that year, the juvenile violent-crime rate declined slightly, but it did so for only the first time in almost 10 years. Between 1984 and 1994, the homicide-arrest rate for juveniles nearly tripled. Just under 2,800 juveniles were arrested for homicide in 1994, compared with 958 such arrests in 1984. The number of gun homicides by juveniles quadrupled between 1984 and 1994. . . . In response to high levels of juvenile crime, 146 of the nation’s 200 largest cities now enforce teen curfews. Ninety of these municipalities have passed new curfew laws or have begun enforcing old ones since 1990. Including smaller cities and towns, about 1,000 communities now impose teen curfews. Advocates of curfews, including President Clinton (D), some members of Congress and many law-enforcement officials, say that they are an effective crime-fighting tool. They point to declining crime rates in cities with curfews as proof that curfews work. Curfews are needed to keep juveniles from committing crimes, advocates say, but also to protect youths, who are increasingly the victims of violent crimes. According to the National Center for Juvenile Justice, based in Pittsburgh, Pa., the number of juveniles murdered in 1994 was 47% greater than the number murdered in 1980. Curfew backers argue that if fewer teens are on the streets, fewer crimes will be committed by and against juveniles. Curfews help overburdened parents who are not always able to supervise their children or keep them at home, advocates say, and also protect neglected teens whose parents play little or no role in their lives. But teen-curfew laws have not been universally accepted. Some teens resent curfews, and civilliberties groups have challenged the legality of curfew ordinances, claiming that they are unconstitutional. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), many teenagers and some parents argue that the laws violate minors’ freedom of assembly as guaranteed by the First Amendment to the Constitution. They say that that right applies to people of all ages at all times. Curfews have also been criticized for encroaching on the rights of parents to determine rules for their own children. Critics say that parents should be able to set restrictions within their families without government interference. Others claim that curfews are ineffective, pointing to statistics showing that most juvenile crimes occur between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m., usually right after school days end, and many teenagers have little to do then but loiter. The money spent on enforcing curfews could be better spent on after-school recreational or educational programs for teens, they say. Finally, some experts contend that curfew laws are more strictly enforced in minority neighborhoods than in predominantly white areas, a practice that they believe can worsen racial tensions and is yet another example of authorities’ distrust of minority residents, especially youths. . . . No nationwide study has been conducted on curfews’ effectiveness in reducing juvenile crime. But in several cities where curfews have been enforced, police departments have reported declines in juvenile crime rates. In Dallas, Texas, where a curfew for youths under age 17 took effect in May 1994, violent crime by juveniles has decreased by 30.3%, according to Dallas police, while overall juvenile crime has decreased by 20.7%. . . .
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Regardless of such lower-crime developments in some cities, juvenile crime rates nationwide remain largely higher than in the past. Many law-enforcement officials are particularly disturbed by what today’s trends will mean for the future. A September 1995 Justice Department study predicted that the number of juveniles arrested for violent crimes would double by the year 2010. A parallel boom in the teenage population is also predicted. In 10 years, the 40 million children currently under 10 years old in the U.S. will become teenagers. The number of 14-to 17-year-old males is expected to rise 23% by 2005, and the overall under-18 population is expected to increase to 74 million in 2010, from 69 million in 1995. The vast majority of those youths will be law-abiding, and most will have a strong base of parental support and influence that will keep them safe and away from crime. However, many analysts point out that an overall increase in the nation’s youth population also means that more juvenile offenders will be preying on victims. Some analysts are quite pessimistic in their examinations of such trends. John DiIulio Jr., a leading crime expert and director of the Brookings Institution’s Center for Public Management in Washington, D.C., describes what he sees as the future of juvenile crime: Americans are sitting on a demographic time bomb. The large population of 7-to 10-year-old boys growing up fatherless, Godless and jobless—and surrounded by deviant, delinquent and criminal adults—will give rise to a new and more vicious group of predatory street criminals than the nation has ever known. DiIulio’s prediction that this group will become a new breed of “superpredators” has heightened concerns about juvenile crime and forced policy makers to seriously examine how best to approach it. . . . Other curfew advocates say that curfews provide an opportunity for teens who are at risk for becoming delinquents to get needed help. Gregory Bodenhamer, a community crime consultant in Portland, Ore., says that curfew laws are “one of the most dependable, least intrusive methods to identify and help children from the neglectful and chaotic families that produce most of the nation’s young criminals.” Law-enforcement officials who favor curfew laws say that they are a straightforward, proactive and enforceable way to fight juvenile crime. They say that any infringements on juveniles’ liberty will be outweighed by the safety benefits curfews will bring. “I’m sure that a lot of teenagers think this is too strict,” [President] Clinton said in May 1996. “But they must also know that it’s a dangerous world out there and these rules are being set by people who love them.” . . . Yet critics of teen-curfew laws say that they are simplistic solutions that sound appealing, especially to politicians who want to sound pro-family and tough on crime, but achieve very little. Many say that curfews cannot possibly reduce juvenile crime over the long run because most juvenile crimes occur in the afternoon hours when most juveniles are unsupervised. James Alan Fox, the dean of the College of Criminal Justice at Northeastern University in Boston, Mass., says, “The problem with curfew laws is that most kids, the good, the bad and the tired, are asleep at midnight.” Others say that curfews will not stop youths who are already engaged in criminal lifestyles. Arthur Spitzer, the legal director of the ACLU in Washington, D.C., says, “I find it very hard to believe that a curfew would have any significant effect on teenagers who are selling drugs, stealing cars or carrying a gun. The very thought that they would be deterred ... is laughable when these kids are facing up to 10 years [in prison].” . . .
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Yet defenders argue that curfews work by forcing youths to consider the consequences of violating curfews. The laws are also effective, supporters say, in influencing youths before they become potentially involved in criminal activity. In many cities with curfews, they point out, curfew centers are staffed with trained counselors who try to identify the problems at the root of a youth’s delinquency, whether by aiding communication in families or by referring them to other social services. . . . One of the most frequently heard points made in the debate over teen curfews is that young people need positive activities to engage in. Many say that after-school programs and organized sports leagues work to reduce crime because they give teens a safe and constructive alternative during the afternoon, when most juvenile crime takes place. . . . Some experts maintain that curfews alone cannot reduce juvenile crime. Alfred Blumstein, a leading criminologist at Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pa., says that curfews must be augmented1 by community centers where young people can go to meet other teens in a safe atmosphere, play sports and receive tutoring or counseling. “This would be a logical extension of curfews that makes them positive and not just another rule for kids to break,” he advises. —from “Teen Curfews,” Issues and Controversies, August 31, 2000, ©2000 Facts On File News Services
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Timeline: Milestones in Teen Curfews in the United States 1936
Police Athletic League (PAL) is founded in New York City to give teens a positive alternative to crime through sports and recreation. 1948 Chicago, Ill. enacts youth curfew. 1953 Boys and Girls Clubs of America are established in public housing projects. Clubs offer social, educational, career and leadership programs to disadvantaged youths. 1968 Phoenix, Ariz. enacts youth curfew. 1974 Congress passes the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act, which establishes the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP). The OJJDP gives funding to states to create programs to combat juvenile crime. 1980s In the mid-1980s, the juvenile violent-crime rate, which held steady throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, surges upward. 1989 In March, U.S. District Judge Charles Richey blocks implementation of a Washington, D.C. teencurfew ordinance, saying the law raises “serious constitutional claims” for juveniles. 1990s A majority of large cities begin passing teen-curfew ordinances or enforcing existing curfews. 1993 In November, U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upholds a Dallas, Texas teen curfew. The court rules that the curfew is justified by the state’s “compelling interest” in curbing juvenile crime and protecting juveniles. 1995 In November, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) files a lawsuit in U.S. District Court to challenge a new Washington, D.C. curfew law that was modeled after the recently upheld Dallas ordinance. 1996 In May, in a speech in New Orleans, La., President Clinton (D) endorses curfews as an effective way to combat juvenile crime.
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Reading and Writing for Information and Understanding 1997
1997 1998
1999
1999
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In June, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals overturns a San Diego, Calif., ordinance that has prohibited teens from being on the street unaccompanied by an adult after curfew hours except in specified circumstances. . . . The district court had ruled in favor of the city, but the appeals court overturned that verdict and ruled that the statute as drafted was unconstitutionally vague. In December, a report by the National Council of Mayors concludes that cities that imposed youth curfews experienced significant decreases in juvenile crime. . . . In June, a study on the impact of curfews on juvenile crime in California, released by the Justice Policy Institute, finds that curfews are more a public relations gimmick than an effective crimefighting tool. . . . In March, the U.S. Supreme Court declines to rule on a Charlottesville, Va. case in which the city’s curfew had been challenged by a group of parents and teenagers who contended that the statute both infringed on the parents’ right to raise their children as they believed best and on teens’ basic freedom of movement. The city, in turn, argued that it was within its rights in enacting legislation “to protect the welfare and safety of children.” . . . In June, a federal appeals court upholds a Washington, D.C., statute imposing a curfew on those younger than 17, forbidding them from being in a public place after 11:00 p.m. Sunday through Thursday or after midnight on Friday or Saturday unless accompanied by an adult. The law does allow certain exceptions, such as travel to and from work or for emergencies. The ruling of the appeals court overturns a lower court ruling that the law is unconstitutional because it violates the rights of law abiding young people and interferes with parents’ right to raise their children as they see fit. . . . In February, a survey released by the National League of Cities concludes that curfews are in fact an effective way of deterring some crime, although they do little to reduce hard core gang activity. . . . In July, a federal district court judge rules that Indiana’s curfew law, passed in 1945, violates the Constitution’s Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable search and seizure. . . . Sources (adapted): “Milestones in Teen Curfews in the U.S. (sidebar),” Issues and Controversies, August 29, 1996, and “Teen Curfews,” Issues and Controversies, August 31, 2000
1. The first paragraph implies that the primary purpose of a teen curfew law is to ensure that teenagers (1) (2) (3) (4)
get adequate nutrition. attend school. receive legal advice. stay home at night.
Correct answer: (4) The passage states that the curfew would “make it illegal for youths under a certain age—usually 16 or 17—to be in public places during specified hours, usually between 11 p.m. or midnight and dawn.” Choices 1, 2, and 3 are incorrect because the main idea of the first paragraph is not implying any of those specific details.
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2. The statistics cited in the second paragraph are used to illustrate (1) (2) (3) (4)
the causes of youth violence. a plan for crime prevention. an increase in juvenile crime. the effectiveness of teen curfew.
Correct answer: (3) The second paragraph discusses the crime rate jumping between 1984 and 1994 and how many juveniles had been arrested for homicide. Choice 1 is incorrect because even though statistics are listed, there is no mention of what causes teens to commit crimes. Choice 2 is incorrect because there is no evidence to a solution to the problem in this paragraph. Choice 4 is incorrect because teen curfews have not been discussed prior to this paragraph, therefore, this paragraph cannot conclude how effective they are. 3. According to the text, civil-liberties groups claim that curfews are illegal because teenagers have the right to (1) (2) (3) (4)
vote on curfew ordinances. gather in public. own property. hold jobs.
Correct answer: (2) Civil-liberties groups argue that the curfew is unconstitutional because the “laws violate minors’ freedom of assembly as guaranteed by the First Amendment to the Constitution,” stated in line 27 of the passage. They believe that the law is unconstitutional, therefore there shouldn’t be an issue of the teenagers voting on the law as suggested in choice 1. This passage does not mention the right of owning property or holding a job; therefore, choices 3 and 4 are irrelevant. 4. As used in line 29, “encroaching” most nearly means (1) (2) (3) (4)
increasing recreation. enforcing laws. reducing crimes. exceeding limits.
Correct answer: (4) The passage states that “Curfews have also been criticized for encroaching on the rights of parents to determine rules for their own children.” Replacing each choice in place of “encroaching” should help to choose the most reasonable answer in this case. Also, reading the sentence before and after line 29 can add to the point that the author is trying to reach. Also, look for the choice that is out of place or not similar to the other choices. Choices 1, 2, and 3 are all positive answers. Choice 4 is a negative answer, which leads us to believe that our government is more responsible for the youth than their own parents are.
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5. According to Gregory Bodenhamer, one benefit of curfew laws is that they (1) (2) (3) (4)
permit early intervention in lives of at-risk youths. impose punishment on parents of delinquents. provide communities with crime statistics. encourage teenagers to identify with career interests.
Correct answer: (1) Bodenhamer states in lines 69-71 that curfew laws are “one of the most dependable, least intrusive methods to identify and help children from the neglectful and chaotic families that produce most of the nation’s young criminals.” This quote can be interpreted directly to choice 1. Bodenhamer does not imply choice 2, that parents of delinquents will be punished; or choice 3, that it will help provide communities with crime statistics. Crime statistics can be proven before the curfew is set in place. Curfew laws ensure that teenagers will be off the streets; maybe the next step could be to encourage their career interests, but it is not implied in the passage, therefore choice 4 is incorrect. 6. The author develops the text primarily by providing (1) (2) (3) (4)
descriptions of curfew programs. arguments of advocates and critics. interviews with mayors and judges. anecdotes by teen participants.
Correct answer: (2) The author looks at both sides of this issue by offering statistics and offering quotes supporting the positive and negative aspects of teen curfews. The passage also proves how the curfews can impact different groups, such as parents, the community, and the youth themselves. Choice 1 is incorrect because it offers the general details of a curfew program and what the possible outcomes are, but not detailed descriptions of the programs. Choice 3 is incorrect because even though the author offers quotes from advocates and critics, they are not considered interviews. Choice 4 is incorrect because we do not hear stories anywhere in the text from teens who have been impacted by the curfew programs. 7. According to the timeline, the first organization formed to offer teenagers alternatives to crime was (1) (2) (3) (4)
Police Athletic League. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. Boys and Girls Clubs of America. National League of Cities.
Correct answer: (1) The Police Athletic League, founded in 1936, offered a positive alternative for teens to become involved in sports and recreation instead of crime. Choice 2 is incorrect because it was founded in 1974 and it was not a place for teens to go, yet the program provided funding for specific programs. Choice 3 is incorrect because they were founded in 1953. Choice 4 is also incorrect because it was founded in 2000, which only proved that curfews are an effective way of reducing crime.
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8. According to the timeline, a sharp increase in the violent crime rate for juveniles occurred during the (1) (2) (3) (4)
1950s. 1960s. 1970s. 1980s.
Correct answer: (4) During the 1980s the timeline states that “the juvenile violent-crime rate, which held steady throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, surges upward.” 9. The timeline entries for December 1997, June 1998, and February 2000 offer differing conclusions about the (1) (2) (3) (4)
legality of curfews. popularity of curfews. effectiveness of curfews. future of curfews.
Correct answer: (3) December 1997 implies that there was a significant decrease in juvenile crime. June 1998 states that “curfews are more a public relations gimmick than an effective crime-fighting tool.” And February 2000 states that “curfews are in fact an effective way of deterring some crime, although they do little to reduce hard core gang activity...” From the three statements, the reader can conclude that the correct answer is choice 3, which shows both sides of the curfews being effective or not. Choices 1, 2, and 4 are irrelevant to the statements provided. 10. The timeline entries for 1989 and 1993 reveal a conflict between the (1) (2) (3) (4)
cost of enforcement and benefit to society. rights of juveniles and interests of the state. rights of parents and interests of politicians. protections of the accused and rights of prosecutors.
Correct answer: (2) In 1989 there are concerns that the curfews raise “serious constitutional claims.” In 1993 Texas decides that they can fit the ordinance under “compelling interest,” which will allow them to keep the curfew law. Therefore these statements reveal that there is a fine line between the constitution and the rights of the teenagers.
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Essay Pro (For): Introduction: I agree that there should be an enforced law that requires teenagers around the age of 16 to stay off of the streets between the hours of 11 p.m. and dawn. I believe that the curfew would significantly lower the rates of violence in our community. Paragraph 1: Statistics of violence in your community. Statistics of violence country-wide (from article). “The juvenile violent-crime rate, comprising murder, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault, has climbed, except for 1995.” Also “between 1984 and 1994, the homicide-arrest rate for juveniles nearly tripled.” Paragraph 2: Discuss what the curfew could do for the community, parents who feel overwhelmed by their responsibility of work and family, making sure that their children are safe, and what it could do for the atrisk youth—discuss programs that could be implemented into the community (evidence from timeline). Conclusion: Based on the statistics that there is a predicted boom in population of teenagers, what are we going to do to control them and keep them off the streets? Also, list some other cities that have enforced the curfew and what it has done for their crime rates (evidence from timeline).
Con (Against): Introduction: I believe that enforcing a curfew would not only be an infringement on the rights of the teenagers, but also their parents, who are the sole providers for their children financially and emotionally. Paragraph 1: Discuss how it has been proven that the highest rate of crime occurs between the hours of 3 p.m. and 6 p.m., which are after school hours. Also, discuss how curfews go against the First Amendment, which allows anyone the right to assemble. Based on the curfew law, this would take away the rights of the youth. Not only does the law go against the youth, but it also conflicts with how the parents feel they should be raising their children. Shouldn’t parents be responsible for determining whether or not their child should be out at night? Paragraph 2: Offer solutions to the problem; for example, after-school programs that would limit criminal activity of at-risk youth between the hours of 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. You can use the information from the timeline, which proves that there are programs already established, yet maybe the way our community should go about getting teenagers into those programs should be done differently. Conclusion: The passage states that “No nationwide study has been conducted on curfews’ effectiveness in reducing juvenile crime.” You could use this statement to defend your position. How do we know that it is going to effectively work in our community? Why spend the money on this unreliable system when we could be spending it more effectively on pre-established programs?
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Passage Two Directions: Read the text and study the map on the following pages, answer the multiple-choice questions, and write a response based on the situation described below. You may use the margins to take notes as you read and scrap paper to plan your response. The Situation: Your science class has just completed a unit on energy and your teacher has asked each student to write a position paper about one type of energy. You have chosen to write a position paper about wind power as an energy source and whether or not it could be useful in New York State. Your Task: Using relevant information from both documents, write a position paper for your science class in which you explain how wind power is used as an energy source and whether you agree or disagree that wind power could be useful in New York State.
Guidelines Be sure to . . . ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
Tell your audience what they need to know about how wind power is used as an energy source. Indicate whether you agree or disagree that wind power could be useful in New York State. Use specific, accurate, and relevant information from the text and the map to support your opinion. Use a tone and level of language appropriate for a position paper for your science class. Organize your ideas in a logical and coherent manner. Indicate any words taken directly from the text by using quotation marks or referring to the author. Follow the conventions of standard written English.
Quick Facts about Wind Energy
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What is wind energy? The term “wind energy” or “wind power” describes the process by which the wind is used to generate mechanical power or electricity. Wind turbines convert the kinetic energy in the wind into mechanical power. This mechanical power can be used for specific tasks (such as grinding grain or pumping water) or a generator can convert this mechanical power into electricity to power homes, businesses, schools, and the like. What causes the wind to blow? Wind is a form of solar energy. Winds are caused by the uneven heating of the atmosphere by the sun, the irregularities of the earth’s surface, and the rotation of the earth. Wind flow patterns are modified by the earth’s terrain, bodies of water, and vegetative cover. This wind flow, or motion energy, when “harvested” by modern wind turbines can be used to generate electricity. When was wind energy first used? Since earliest recorded history, wind power has been used to move ships, grind grain and pump water. There is evidence that wind energy was used to propel boats along the Nile River as early as 5000 B.C. Within several centuries before Christ, simple windmills were used in China to pump water. In the United States, millions of windmills were erected as the
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American West was developed during the late 19th century. Most of them were used to pump water for farms and ranches. By 1900, small electric wind systems were developed to generate direct current, but most of these units fell into disuse as inexpensive grid power was extended to rural areas during the 1930s. By 1910, wind turbine generators were producing electricity in many European countries. How is the energy in the wind captured? Wind turbines, like aircraft propeller blades, turn in the moving air and power an electric generator which supplies an electric current. Modern wind turbines fall into two basic groups: the horizontal-axis variety, like the traditional farm windmills used for pumping water; and the vertical-axis design, like the eggbeater-style Darrieus model, named after its French inventor. Modern wind technology takes advantage of advances in materials, engineering, electronics, and aerodynamics. Wind turbines are often grouped together into a single wind power plant, also known as a wind farm, and generate bulk electrical power. Electricity from these turbines is fed into the local utility grid and distributed to customers just as it is with conventional power plants. How big are wind turbines? Wind turbines are available in a variety of sizes, and therefore power ratings. The largest machine, such as the one built in Hawaii, has propellers that span more than the length of a football field and stands 20 building stories high, and produces enough electricity to power 1,400 homes. A small home-sized wind machine has rotors between 8 and 25 feet in diameter and stands upwards of 30 feet and can supply the power needs of an all-electric home or small business. What are wind turbines made of? All electric-generating wind turbines, no matter what size, are comprised of a few basic components: the rotor (the part that actually rotates in the wind), the electrical generator, a speed control system, and a tower. Some wind machines have fail-safe shutdown systems so that if part of the machine fails, the shutdown systems turn the blades out of the wind or put on brakes. Are there good wind resources in the United States? Wind energy is very abundant in many parts of the United States. Wind resources are characterized by wind-power density classes, ranging from class 1 (the lowest) to class 7 (the highest). Good wind resources (class 3 and above) which have an average annual wind speed of at least 13 miles per hour, are found along the east coast, the Appalachian Mountain chain, the Great Plains, the Pacific Northwest, and some other locations. North Dakota, alone, has enough energy from class 4 and higher winds to supply 36% of the electricity of the lower 48 states. Of course, it would be impractical to move electricity everywhere from North Dakota. Wind speed is a critical feature of wind resources, because the energy in wind is proportional to the cube of the wind speed. In other words, a stronger wind means a lot more power. What are the advantages of wind-generated electricity? Numerous public opinion surveys have consistently shown that the public prefers wind and other renewable energy forms over conventional sources of generation. Wind energy is a free, renewable resource, so no matter how much is used today, there will still be the same supply in the future. Wind energy is also a source of clean, non-polluting electricity. Unlike conventional power plants, wind plants emit no air pollutants or greenhouse gases. In 1990, California’s wind power plants offset the emission of more than 2.5 billion pounds of carbon dioxide, and 15 million pounds of other pollutants that would have otherwise been produced. It would take a forest of 90 million to 175 million trees to provide the same air quality. What are the economic obstacles to greater wind power usage? Even though the cost of wind power has decreased dramatically in the past 10 years, the technology requires a higher initial investment than fossil-fueled generators1. Roughly 80% of the cost is the machinery, with the balance being the site preparation and installation. If wind-generating systems are compared with fossilfueled systems on a “life-cycle” cost basis (counting fuel and operating expenses for the life of the
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generator), however, wind costs are much more competitive with other generating technologies because there is no fuel to purchase and minimal operating expenses. Are there environmental problems facing wind power? Although wind power plants have relatively little impact on the environment compared to other conventional power plants, there is some concern over the noise produced by the rotor blades, aesthetic (visual) impacts, and sometimes birds have been killed by flying into the rotors. Most of these problems have been resolved or greatly reduced through technological development or by properly siting wind plants. Avian mortality2 remains an issue to be better understood and resolved. Are there other drawbacks to the use of wind energy? The major challenge to using wind as a source of power is that it is intermittent and it does not always blow when electricity is needed. Wind cannot be stored (unless batteries are used); and not all winds can be harnessed to meet the timing of electricity demands. Further, good wind sites are often located in remote locations far from areas of electric power demand (such as cities). Finally, wind resource development may compete with other uses for the land and those alternative uses may be more highly valued than electricity generation. However, wind turbines can be located on land that is also used for grazing or even farming. Is wind energy good for the economy? Wind energy avoids the external or societal costs associated with conventional resources, namely, the trade deficit from importing foreign oil and other fuels, the health and environmental costs of pollution, and the cost of depleted resources. Wind energy is a domestic, reliable resource that provides more jobs per dollar invested than any other energy technology—more than five times that from coal or nuclear power. In 1994, wind turbine and component manufacturers contributed directly to the economies of 44 states, creating thousands of jobs for Americans. . . . Wind industry . . . today The wind energy industry has grown steadily over the last 10 years and American companies are now competing aggressively in energy markets across the nation and around the world. The industry, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy, continues to expand and develop a full range of highly reliable, efficient wind turbines. These new-generation turbines, when installed, perform at 98% reliability in the field, representing remarkable progress since the technology was first introduced in the early 1980s. Wind power . . . tomorrow Wind power has an expansive future according to experts. Wind energy has been the fastest growing source of electricity generation in the world in the 1990s. However, the majority of this growth has been in Europe, where government policies and high conventional energy costs favor the use of wind energy. The U.S. Department of Energy recently announced the Wind Powering America initiative with goals to power at least 5% of the nation’s electricity with wind by 2020, increase the number of states with more than 20 megawatts of wind to 16 by 2005 and 24 by 2010, and increase federal use of wind energy to 5% by 2010. . . . —U.S. Department of Energy, from “Quick Facts about Wind Energy,” www.eere.energy.gov/
1 2
fossil-fueled generators—generators using coal or oil avian mortality—bird death
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Reading and Writing for Information and Understanding New York Annual Average Wind Power
Massena
1
2 4
2
2
6
2
LAKE ERIE 4
Buffalo 2 2 3 3 Dunkirk 3
2
3
2 Syracuse 4 2 2 4
3 Binghamton
3
3 N W
Watertown 2 3 4 2 2
2
2
2
S
1 1
3
3 Utica 2 2 3 4 2 Albany 3 3 3 2 3 4 3 CATSKILL MTNS 5 2 3 3
E
IR O M ND TN A S CK
3
4 3 3 Rochester 2
2
4 3
4
LAKE CHAMPLAIN
2
4
AD
LAKE ONTARIO 5 5 5
3
3
2 2
4 3
1 New York City 2
3 4
3 3
Montauk 3 Point
4 4 4 LONG ISLAND 2
Wind resource is given in terms of wind power classes, ranging from class 1 (the lowest) to class 7 (the highest). Areas designated class 3 or greater are suitable for most wind turbine applications, whereas class 2 areas are marginal. Class 1 areas are generally not suitable.
Source (adapted): Wind Energy Resource Atlas of the United States, 1986, www.nrel.gov/rredc/ First read The Situation to become acquainted with the task and what you should be focusing on as you read the passage and study the map. As you are reading the passage and looking at the map, make sure to take notes and underline relevant information that will help you to write the response and answer the multiple-choice questions. 1. According to the text, a decline in the use of windmills occurred in the 1930s because (1) (2) (3) (4)
windmills broke down frequently. affordable energy became available. power needs decreased. farms were abandoned.
Correct answer: (2) People did not want the hassles of using wind energy when they could rely on another type of energy that is more affordable and more reliable. Choice 1 is incorrect because this is not the reason why the use of windmills declined, although there were problems with a lack of wind and birds
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CliffsTestPrep Regents English Workbook flying into the mills. Choice 3 is incorrect because the text never implied there was no need for power. There will always be a demand for power. Choice 4 is incorrect because the text never said that farms were being abandoned. The text implied that wind energy could be used on farmland. 2. According to the text, North Dakota could not supply electricity to the rest of the United States because (1) (2) (3) (4)
North Dakota has too little wind energy to generate electricity. North Dakota’s terrain is not suitable for installing wind turbines. other states have sufficient sources of energy. transporting electricity over great distances is inefficient.
Correct answer: (4) According to the text, even though North Dakota has enough energy from class 4 and higher winds to supply 36% of the electricity to the lower 48 states, it would still be extremely impractical. Choice 1 is incorrect because the statement is untrue. North Dakota has plenty of wind energy to supply the rest of the United States. Choice 2 is incorrect because it is stated in the text that there is a great amount of turbines, which have been installed on the territory. Choice 3 is incorrect because it is not stated that all of the other states have a sufficient source of energy. 3. The author of the passage implies that wind power is desirable because (1) (2) (3) (4)
windmills can be used everywhere. wind travels at a constant speed. wind energy is “clean” energy. windmills are visually appealing.
Correct answer: (3) In fact, wind energy is the cleanest energy to use. Choice 1 is incorrect because the statement is untrue. Windmills cannot be used everywhere because they won’t work efficiently everywhere due to a lack of wind and resources. Choice 2 is incorrect because wind does not travel at a constant speed. Sometimes there is an insufficient amount of wind. Choice 4 is incorrect because windmills are not aesthetically pleasing. They are large structures, which are also quite noisy. 4. According to the text, one environmental objection to wind turbines is that they (1) (2) (3) (4)
spoil the scenery. disturb wind patterns. pollute the air. create traffic problems.
Correct answer: (1) The text states that there is some concern because of the “aesthetic (visual) impacts.” Choice 2 is an incorrect statement because there is no evidence in the text that states that windmills disturb wind patterns. Choice 3 is incorrect because windmills are an extremely clean source of wind energy and are actually better than some other types. Choice 4 is incorrect because it is not stated in the text that the windmills create traffic problems.
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5. As used in line 69, the word “intermittent” most nearly means (1) (2) (3) (4)
cool. occasional. expensive. impure.
Correct answer: (2) Lines 68 and 69 state “The major challenge to using wind as a source of power is that it is intermittent and it does not always blow when electricity is needed.” It is a good idea to read the entire sentence, and it is sometimes helpful to read the sentences before and after the line that the question is referring to. Occasional is the best answer since the sentence is implying that the wind blows inconsistently. Choice 1 is incorrect because the statement does not imply that temperate has anything to do with the relevance of this sentence. Choice 3 is incorrect because the statement is not describing anything having to do with financing this type of energy. Choice 4 is incorrect because the text states that it is the purest form of wind energy described and the sentence has nothing to do with this type of energy being impure. 6. The text implies that in 1994 most of the new jobs created by the wind power industry involved (1) (2) (3) (4)
locating productive sites for wind power plants. converting conventional power plants to wind power. producing machine parts for wind power plants. informing the public about wind power.
Correct answer: (3) Since the industry was growing in 1994, the opportunity for people to work in a field to produce parts for the needed machines increased as well. The text states that “In 1994, wind turbine and component manufacturers contributed directly to the economies of 44 states, creating thousands of jobs for Americans . . .” Choice 1 is incorrect because the text implies that sites were easily located and were easily determined whether or not they produce sufficient wind energy. Choice 2 is incorrect because the text says nothing about converting conventional power plants to the wind power plants. New sites were found and established, and the necessary parts for those new plants were manufactured. Choice 4 is incorrect because it is not stated in the text that the public had to have been informed about this new energy. 7. The text implies that one reason the use of wind power has grown faster in Europe than in the United States is because, compared to the United States, Europe (1) (2) (3) (4)
has more room for wind turbines. has a windier climate. pays more for fossil fuels. provides better training for technicians.
Correct answer: (3) The text states that “government policies and high conventional energy costs favor the use of wind energy.” This is a direct correlation because since Europe pays more for fossil fuels, they want to find an alternate energy source in order to keep costs down. Europe finds it necessary to work faster to find a more cost-efficient energy source. Choice 1 is incorrect because there is no evidence in the text that Europe has more room for the wind turbines. It only states that they are more abundant in
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CliffsTestPrep Regents English Workbook Europe than they are in the United States. Choice 2 is incorrect because the text does not state that Europe’s climate is any windier than the climate of the United States. Choice 4 is incorrect because nothing is mentioned about better training for technicians. 8. According to the map, the location where the highest level of wind power in New York State occurs is (1) (2) (3) (4)
in the Catskill Mountains. in the Adirondack Mountains. around Syracuse. around Buffalo.
Correct answer: (2) The map shows that the Adirondack Mountains have wind power that amounts to a level 6. Choice 1 is incorrect because even though it is at a higher level than some of the others, it only reaches a level 5. The Adirondack Mountains beat the Catskill Mountains for the highest level of wind power. Choice 3 is incorrect because the levels of wind energy around Syracuse reach only to a level 2 and 4 for wind energy. Choice 4 is incorrect because the levels measure to be a 2, 3, and 4. 9. The curved lines on the map are used to (1) (2) (3) (4)
define areas of similar wind power. indicate sites of conventional power plants. indicate the direction of prevailing winds. designate areas of power shortages.
Correct answer: (1) The curved lines help to designate the areas that are included in the area for that particular class. Choices 2, 3, and 4 are incorrect because none of those three factors are mentioned on a key or are labeled on the map. They are not indicated on the map, therefore there is no evidence that the answer could be correct. 10. Wind power is least likely in the area that is immediately (1) (2) (3) (4)
east of Binghamton. south of Massena. west of Watertown. north of New York City.
Correct answer: (4) New York City shows that its wind power only reaches a level 1. This can be misleading because it is so close to Long Island, which has levels ranging from a 2 to a 4. Be aware of the fact that Long Island is a separate location. In addition, the text indicates that “good wind sites are often located in remote locations far from areas of electric power demand (such as cities).” Therefore, the reader could surmise that New York City could be the possible answer without even looking at the map. Choice 1 is incorrect because sources east of Binghamton are higher. The levels reach a 5 in the Catskill Mountains. Choice 2 is incorrect because south of Massena, the levels range from a 2 to a 6. The level 6 helps to eliminate this answer as a possible correct response. Choice 3 is incorrect because the levels range from a 3 to a 5. This indicates that west of Watertown would still be a sufficient site for wind power.
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Essay Read The Situation above before you begin reading. As you are reading through the passage, it might be helpful to underline important facts and details, which will be helpful to prove your position to be true. Also, read over the guidelines. As you are reading the passage, start thinking about the position you wish to choose. Possibly make a list of the pros and cons of wind energy. Below are some possible suggestions for positive and negative aspects of using wind energy taken directly from the text.
Positive: ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
Cleaner; non-polluting No fuel to purchase Minimal operating expenses Free, renewable resource Good for the economy Provides more jobs per dollar invested than any other technology Wind energy is abundant in the United States
Negative: ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
Intermittent source; the wind does not blow consistently Wind cannot be stored without batteries Not effective near big cities Noise from motor blades Birds are killed when they fly into the blades Visual aspects are unappealing Technology requirement for initial start is costly (higher than fossil fuels)
A possible thesis statement to defend a position that is for the use of wind energy could be: There are many positive aspects in investing in wind energy. Even though the initial investment for the transition from fossil fuel can be costly, as a result the expenses in the future are minimal, wind energy is an abundant source, and it is also a cleaner solution for our environment. Your body paragraphs would discuss the following aspects: Paragraph 1: Future expenses are minimal. Paragraph 2: Wind energy is an abundant source. Paragraph 3: Wind energy is a cleaner solution for our environment.
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CliffsTestPrep Regents English Workbook A possible thesis statement to defend a position that is against the use of wind energy could be: Wind energy is not consistent enough to be able to rely on it for a main source for our energy. It is also costly for the initial conversion. Wind energy is not effective in many sites in the United States, including larger cities, the aesthetic aspects are unappealing, and it is an intermittent source, which is almost impossible to store for future use. Paragraph 1: Wind energy is not reliable in many sites in the United States, including larger cities. Paragraph 2: The aesthetic aspects are unappealing. Paragraph 3: Wind energy is an intermittent source and almost impossible to store.
Passage Three Directions: Read the text and study the chart on the following pages, answer the multiple-choice questions, and write a response based on the situation described below. You may use the margins to take notes as you read and scrap paper to plan your response. The Situation: Your state senator is preparing to vote on a bill that would ban the use of vending machines in all New York State schools. Write a letter to your state senator recommending whether he/she should vote for or against the bill and explaining the reasons for your position. Your Task: Using relevant information from both documents, write a letter to your state senator in which you recommend whether he/she should vote for or against the bill banning the use of vending machines in New York State schools and explain the reasons for your position. Write only the body of the letter.
Guidelines Be sure to . . . ■ ■
■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
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Tell your audience what they need to know about the use of vending machines in schools. Recommend whether your state senator should vote for or against the bill banning the use of vending machines in New York State schools. Explain the reasons for your position. Use specific, accurate, and relevant information from the text and the chart to support your position. Use a tone and level of language appropriate for a letter to a state senator. Organize your ideas in a logical and coherent manner. Indicate any words taken directly from the text by using quotation marks or referring to the author. Follow the conventions of standard written English.
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States Try to Limit Sales of Junk Food in School Buildings
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For countless American children, breakfast or lunch drops out of a vending machine at school: a can of soda, perhaps, washing down a chocolate bar or a bag of potato chips. Now, a growing number of states are striking back, trying to curb the rise in childhood obesity by placing strict limits on the sale of candy, soft drinks and fatty snacks in schools. Nearly a dozen states are considering legislation to turn off school vending machines during class time, strip them of sweets or impose new taxes on soft drinks to pay for teacher salaries and breakfast programs. In California, legislators appear close to passing a law that would prohibit any drinks but milk, water or juice from being sold in elementary schools, and curtail the hours older students can fuel up at vending machines. In Hawaii, legislators are pushing to oust sodas from school machines altogether. The wave of legislation, unusual both for its breadth and its assertiveness, grew out of the newest statistics on child obesity from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Teenagers today are almost three times as likely to be overweight as they were 20 years ago, the agency announced this year, prompting many lawmakers to take aim at the junk food they believe is to blame. “It can’t help when a child is eating chips and soda at 8 in the morning,” said Martha Escutia, a state senator who backed California’s bill. The food industry says children need more exercise, not fewer choices. The bills have also angered school administrators nationwide, intensifying an already heated debate over the prevalence of commercialism in the education system. Once little more than a novelty in schools, vending machines have become a principal source of extra money for districts across the nation, bringing in hundreds of millions of dollars for extracurricular activities each year. With dozens of machines lining their hallways, some schools annually earn $50,000 or more in commissions, then use the money for marching bands, computer centers and field trips that might otherwise fall by the wayside. To keep such programs going, schools are emerging as the staunchest opponents of the proposed restrictions, invoking the same principles of local control that the states themselves use to fight federal standards for academic testing. In many cases, the resistance from schools has been vociferous1 enough to water down or defeat measures, or at least stall them until the next legislative session rolls around. “Let the parents, the students and the school community sit down and decide how to handle this,” said Robert E. Meeks, legislative director for the Minnesota School Boards Association, which has organized against legislation to curtail soda sales. Mr. Meeks added that Minnesota schools earn roughly $40 million a year from vending machines. “The states only seem to be interested in local control when it suits them,” he said. Many lawmakers say they find it odd that educators are their biggest foes, considering that the schools are supposed to look after the welfare of their students. Half the students in some Texas and California districts are overweight, officials say. “I can understand why school districts go in search of extra resources,” said Jaime L. Capelo Jr., a state representative in Texas who introduced a measure to pare down the amount of junk food in schools. “But it’s shameful when they obtain additional resources through contracts with soda companies with little or no regard to the health of their students.” Even some students express concern over the abundance of snack foods in their schools. Nell S. Geiser, a 17-year-old senior at New Vista High School in Boulder, Colo., says the vending machines in the building never shut down. At 7:30 a.m., outside classrooms with corporate symbols like I.B.M. painted on the walls, she says her fellow students gather in front of the humming machines, comparing schedules on daily planners with logos of the WB network, courtesy of a local television station.
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“Plenty of kids make their breakfast from a Mountain Dew and a bag of Doritos,” said Nell, who organizes fellow students to oppose soda contracts in schools. “You’re brought up thinking it’s all right to be constantly bombarded with ads and junk food because they’re in your school.” Educators, in turn, say that it is the lawmakers who are hypocritical, because as tax revenues sag in tandem with the economy, state legislatures are cutting school budgets, leaving districts with few choices but to search for substitute funds. “Maybe it’s not the best way of making money,” said Paul D. Houston, executive director of the American Association of School Administrators. “But who is responsible for providing funding for schools? The very people who are now saying that we can’t engage in creative ways of raising money.” Though they are often sympathetic to the economic woes of school districts, many lawmakers argue that encouraging children to indulge at an early age is ultimately fiscally irresponsible. As students become heavier and their health deteriorates, more serious ailments like diabetes can arise, leading to higher health care costs over time. . . . The Department of Agriculture tried to ban soda and candy sales in schools more than two decades ago, but was thwarted by a federal appeals court in 1983. Now, federal regulations simply require schools to turn off soda and candy machines in the cafeteria during meal times. Those that sit outside in the hallways can stay on all day. Several states go further. New York, which, like a handful of other states, is considering ways to increase exercise in schools, already prohibits food of “minimal nutritional value” from being sold until after lunch. New Jersey and Maryland have similar policies. But lawmakers say that such rules often make little difference. “They’re totally ignored,” said Paul G. Pinsky, a state senator in Maryland and former high school teacher who introduced a bill this year to switch off vending machines during the school day. “After the sugar high wore off and they were finished bouncing off the walls, my students’ heads would fall on the desk,” he said. “It made it really difficult to teach.” Part of the problem, legislators say, is that the agreements between schools and soda companies sometimes deter principals from following state policy, especially since how much schools make is often tied to how much they sell. One contract between the Pepsi-Cola Company and the Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring, Md., stated that “if the Board of Education actively enforces the policy in which vending machines are turned off during the school day,” the school will not get its guaranteed commission. But the company is now taking a more conciliatory stand. Officials of Pepsi, a unit of PepsiCo, say they have redrawn the contract and others like it over the last year, so that they reflect what the company calls the “spirit and the letter” of state policies. In other states, legislators question whether schools have disregarded state guidelines simply by allowing soda machines on campus. In recent years, North Carolina schools have signed vending contracts with soft drink companies, even though the state’s official policy allows only sales that “contribute to the nutritional well-being of the child and aid in establishing good food habits.” “It’s a bit of a conflict, isn’t it?” said Ellie G. Kinnaird, a state senator in North Carolina who is seeking a moratorium on soft drink contracts in schools. Six months ago, the Coca-Cola Company said that it would scale back on binding contracts with schools. But the new guidelines do not pertain to existing contracts, and may not affect future ones either. On average, Americans drink nearly 60 gallons of soda each year, almost 8 gallons more than they did just 10 years ago. For many lawmakers, it is a given that the increase has worsened childhood obesity. To the food industry, assigning the blame to any one type of food is simplistic.
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“There are no such things as good foods and bad foods,” said Chip Kunde, a legislative director for the Grocery Manufacturers of America, a food industry trade group. “There are just good diets and bad diets.” Researchers vacillate2, pointing out that children are eating more of almost everything, not just sweets, while exercising less. In fact, only 29 percent of students attended daily physical education classes in 1999, compared with 42 percent in 1991, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, making it harder for them to burn off the extra calories they have put on. —Greg Winter, from “States Try to Limit Sales of Junk Food in School Buildings,” The New York Times, September 9, 2001
1 2
vociferous—characterized by an insistent outcry vacillate—change point of view Students Have Choices Percentage of schools offering food in addition to the National School Lunch Program during school hours: Option
All Schools
Elementary
Middle
High
A la carte* offerings
92%
90%
98%
94%
Vending machines in/near cafeteria
23%
7%
38%
63%
Vending machines in different area
23%
11%
37%
54%
School store or snack bar
19%
9%
35%
41%
Opportunity to leave campus for lunch
11%
8%
6%
29%
Student sales/ fund-raisers
3%
2%
5%
7%
* A la carte offerings are any foods sold in the cafeteria that are not part of the National School Lunch Program menu of the day. These include items such as pizzas, candy, french fries, milk, or other items purchased to consume with a lunch brought from home.
Source: USDA Food and Nutrition Service, “School Nutrition Dietary Assessment Study II,” April 2001, and Jeff Boyer/Times Union
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1. The text indicates that the move to ban vending machines in schools came about as a reaction to (1) (2) (3) (4)
parental pressure. health concerns. legal opinions. funding uncertainty.
Correct answer: (2) This is a recall question. Lines 3 and 4 establish the premise of health concerns by relating vending machine use to obesity in children. 2. According to the text, the proposed California law (lines 7-9) would prohibit the sale of (1) (2) (3) (4)
junk food in elementary schools. milk or juice in elementary schools. soft drinks in high schools. soft drinks in elementary schools.
Correct answer: (4) This is a recall question. Line 9 clearly states that, “In Hawaii, legislators are pushing to oust sodas from school machines altogether.” 3. According to the text, food industry representatives argue that schools are failing to provide students with adequate (1) (2) (3) (4)
counseling sessions. economic awareness. physical education. legislative protection.
Correct answer: (3) This is a recall question. In line 16, the point of view of the food industry representatives is presented, “The food industry says children need more exercise, not fewer choices.” 4. According to lines 24-32, schools often view “junk food” legislation as conflicting with their right to (1) (2) (3) (4)
make decisions. teach nutrition. enforce standards. monitor student health.
Correct answer: (1) This is a recall question. Mr. Meeks gives the point of view that represents school when, in line 28, he states, “Let the parents, the students and the school community sit down and decide how to handle this . . .”
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5. According to the text, vending machines in schools send students a conflicting message about (1) (2) (3) (4)
educational opportunity. user convenience. physical activity. good nutrition.
Correct answer: (4) This is a recall question. The point of view of students is expressed by Nell in lines 46 and 47 when she says, “You’re brought up thinking it’s all right to be constantly bombarded with ads and junk food because they’re in your school.” 6. The text implies that lawmakers feel the availability of “junk foods” in schools is (1) (2) (3) (4)
shortsighted. essential. acceptable. declining.
Correct answer: (1) This is an inference question. The lawmakers argue that the availability of “junk food” is a direct cause of childhood obesity. One can infer, then, that the schools are being shortsighted by not addressing this problem immediately rather than allowing it to grow worse. While one may interpret choice 2 as meaning that junk foods are essential (necessary or intrinsic) to the problem of obesity, it is the availability of them that makes schools shortsighted. The last two choices are not factually correct. 7. Paul G. Pinsky’s opinion (lines 66-69) is most probably cited because of his experience as a (1) (2) (3) (4)
food distributor. high school teacher. cafeteria worker. school board member.
Correct answer: (2) This is an analysis question. Although Mr. Pinsky is a state senator, his statements relate his experiences as a school teacher and how they apply to the issue of vending machines in schools. The other choices are incorrect because, to the best of the reader’s knowledge, Mr. Pinsky has not held any of those positions. 8. According to the text, contracts between schools and soda companies may pressure schools to (1) (2) (3) (4)
ignore existing legislation. become creative fund-raisers. reduce variety in cafeterias. raise beverage prices.
Correct answer: (1) This is a recall question. Lines 70-72 explain the relationship between schools and soda companies and the pressure it causes: “Part of the problem, legislators say, is that the agreements between schools and soda companies sometimes deter principals from following state policy, especially since how much schools make is often tied to how much they sell.”
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9. The chart indicates that the availability of food choices in addition to foods which are part of the National School Lunch Program generally increases with the (1) (2) (3) (4)
number of lunches sold. location of vending machines. age of students. length of school day.
Correct answer: (3) This is an analysis question. The left hand side of the chart indicates options for food, and the top of the chart designates “all schools,” then delineates what level of school, from elementary to high school. The percentages of the availability of those food options according to school level appear, accordingly, in each column. By analyzing these statistics, the reader can determine that the availability of food choice increases as students get older and move from elementary school to high school. Choices 1 and 4 are not represented on the chart. While the location of vending machines, choice 2, may provide more food choices, it is age that is the determining factor for the overall increase, as illustrated by the chart. 10. According to the chart, more elementary schools than middle schools allow their students to (1) (2) (3) (4)
hold fund-raisers. use vending machines. visit snack bars. leave for lunch.
Correct answer: (4) This is an analysis question. By analyzing the elementary and middle school columns and cross-referencing the options column, it can be seen that 8 percent of elementary schools allow their students to leave for lunch, while only 6 percent of middle schools allow theirs. For all other options, the middle school has a larger percentage of students.
Essay For this section you must also write a response. Carefully read the Directions, The Situation, Your Task, and Guidelines, as they provide directions and helpful information about the passage. The written response is usually in the following formats: ■ ■ ■
An article A report The body of a letter
Be aware of: ■ ■ ■
Audience (who you’re writing for) Tone (the attitude of your expression) Opinion (whether you are being asked to agree or disagree with an issue)
Include all relevant information from the passage that supports your ideas.
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The Situation: Your state senator is preparing to vote on a bill that would ban the use of vending machines in all New York State schools. Write a letter to your state senator recommending whether he/she should vote for or against the bill and explaining the reasons for your position. Your Task: Using relevant information from both documents, write a letter to your state senator in which you recommend whether he/she should vote for or against the bill banning the use of vending machines in New York State schools and explain the reasons for your position. Write only the body of the letter. The letter is persuasive in nature, and you are being asked to recommend whether your state senator should vote for or against the bill and explain your reasons for taking that position; therefore, you must only take one side of the issue. You should write in the first-person point of view (the “I” voice) to directly express your rationale. Although you are being asked to write only the body of a letter, it can still have multiple paragraphs and adhere to the following form: ■ ■ ■
Introduction Main portion of the body Conclusion
This structure will help you organize your proofs (examples) for whatever recommendation you decide to support. After reading the article and the chart, it may seem conclusive that a ban on vending machines is necessary to help prevent obesity in children, as many of the statistics point in that direction. However, there are other circumstances around which to build an argument against banning vending machines, but remember that you must use information from both the text and the chart to support your arguments in addition to any other ideas you present. To illustrate this, let’s develop both persuasive arguments starting with the “pro” side (for) and then moving directly to the “con” side (against).
Pro (For): In the introductory paragraph, state the major premises of your argument. The relationship between junk foods and childhood obesity is clear, and vending machines allow access to these unhealthy foods on a regular basis. It is through the banning of vending machines in schools that the problem of childhood obesity can begin to be addressed; then schools will no longer condone poor dietary choices. In the first paragraph, recommend that the state senator vote to ban vending machines in school. In the main portion of the body, give more specifics to reinforce these premises. The notion that junk food in vending machines contributes to the problem of childhood obesity is abundantly represented in the text. Lines 11-13 strongly state that junk food is “to blame.” Line 35 states that “Half the students in some Texas and California districts are overweight . . .” Lines 45-47 express the feelings of a student who opposes vending machines. “‘Plenty of kids make their breakfast from a Mountain Dew and a bag of Doritos,’ said Nell, who organizes fellow students to oppose soda contracts in schools. ‘You’re brought up thinking it’s all right to be constantly bombarded with ads and junk food because they’re in your school.’” This supports the idea that schools are condoning junk foods. Use the chart to supply additional information about the number of vending machines in or near the cafeteria and in different areas. In the final paragraph, conclude by restating your premises, and that you recommend that the senator vote for a ban on vending machines.
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Con (Against): In the introductory paragraph, state the major premises of your argument. Bans and prohibitions usually don’t work effectively, and other options need to be sought. Attempting to enforce health and “normality” standards in opposition to personal choice is a losing battle. Junk food is consumed at home and can even be brought to school, if students choose. Also, vending machines provide extracurricular funds. In the first paragraph you should also clearly state that you recommend that the senator does not vote to ban vending machines. In the main portion of the body, give more specifics to reinforce these premises and provide options and alternatives. To support the notion that normality standards are difficult to establish, lines 90-92 contend that there are no good or bad foods, only good or bad diets. Also, as stated in the text, “schools are emerging as the staunchest opponents of the proposed restrictions . . .” They are in favor of local control, not state supervision. Robert E. Meeks, legislative director for the Minnesota School Boards Association, stated, “let the parents, the students and the school community sit down and decide how to handle this . . .” Regarding the financial benefit of vending machines, he added that schools earn about $40 million a year from vending machines. In addition, some individual schools earn more than $50,000 or more in commissions. That money is used for marching bands, computer centers, and field trips. Some other options to limit the junk food problem, rather than banning vending machines, would be to change the food and soda items that are offered in vending machines to provide healthier choices like raisins and fruit juices. This would be a good place to cite examples from the chart that is titled “Students Have Choices.” The implication is that even if junk foods are still available, offering healthier snacks will make a difference in what students choose. Some other strategies would be to reduce the number of machines and their availability by closing them until the end of the school day. Also, centralize the locations so there is less temptation for students to use them often. In addition, funds from vending machines can be used to create more exercise options like weight rooms, physical education programs, and nutritional education courses. In the final paragraph, conclude by restating your premises, and that you recommend that the senator vote against a ban on vending machines.
Passage Four Directions: Read the text and study the graph on the following pages, answer the multiple-choice questions, and write a response based on the situation described below. You may use the margins to take notes as you read and scrap paper to plan your response. The Situation: Your environmental science class has been researching environmental issues. You have chosen to write a presentation for your class discussing the impact of acid rain on North America and suggesting what can be done to reduce the problem. Your Task: Using relevant information from both documents, write a presentation for your environmental science class in which you discuss the impact of acid rain on North America and suggest what can be done to reduce the problem.
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Guidelines Be sure to . . . ■
■
■ ■ ■ ■
Tell your audience what they need to know about acid rain, its impact on North America, and what can be done to reduce the problem. Use specific, accurate, and relevant information from the text and the graph to support your discussion. Use a tone and level of language appropriate for a presentation to your environmental science class. Organize your ideas in a logical and coherent manner. Indicate any words taken directly from the text by using quotation marks or referring to the author. Follow the conventions of standard written English.
Acid Rain What is Acid Rain and What Causes It?
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“Acid rain” is a broad term used to describe several ways that acids fall out of the atmosphere. A more precise term is acid deposition, which has two parts: wet and dry. Wet deposition refers to acidic rain, fog, and snow. As this acidic water flows over and through the ground, it affects a variety of plants and animals. The strength of the effects depend on many factors, including how acidic the water is, the chemistry and buffering capacity of the soils involved, and the types of fish, trees, and other living things that rely on the water. Dry deposition refers to acidic gases and particles. About half of the acidity in the atmosphere falls back to earth through dry deposition. The wind blows these acidic particles and gases onto buildings, cars, homes, and trees. Dry deposited gases and particles can also be washed from trees and other surfaces by rainstorms. When that happens, the runoff water adds those acids to the acid rain, making the combination more acidic than the falling rain alone. Prevailing winds blow the compounds that cause both wet and dry acid deposition across state and national borders, and sometimes over hundreds of miles. Scientists discovered, and have confirmed, that sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOX) are the primary causes of acid rain. In the U.S., about 2/3 of all SO2 and 1/4 of all NOX comes from electric power generation that relies on burning fossil fuels like coal. Acid rain occurs when these gases react in the atmosphere with water, oxygen, and other chemicals to form various acidic compounds. Sunlight increases the rate of most of these reactions. The result is a mild solution of sulfuric acid and nitric acid. How Do We Measure Acid Rain? Acid rain is measured using a scale called “pH.” The lower a substance’s pH, the more acidic it is. Pure water has a pH of 7.0. Normal rain is slightly acidic because carbon dioxide dissolves into it, so it has a pH of about 5.5. As of the year 2000, the most acidic rain falling in the U.S. has a pH of about 4.3. Acid rain’s pH, and the chemicals that cause acid rain, are monitored by two networks, both supported by EPA [Environmental Protection Agency]. The National Atmospheric Deposition Program measures wet deposition, and its Web site features maps of rainfall pH and other important precipitation chemistry measurements.
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The Clean Air Status and Trends Network (CASTNET) measures dry deposition. Its Web site features information about the data it collects, the measuring sites, and the kinds of equipment it uses. What Are Acid Rain’s Effects? Acid deposition has a variety of effects, including damage to forests and soils, fish and other living things, materials, and human health. Acid rain also reduces how far and how clearly we can see through the air, an effect called visibility reduction. . . . Effects of Acid Rain: Lakes and Streams The ecological effects of acid rain are most clearly seen in the aquatic, or water, environments, such as streams, lakes, and marshes. Acid rain flows to streams, lakes, and marshes after falling on forests, fields, buildings, and roads. Acid rain also falls directly on aquatic habitats. Most lakes and streams have a pH between 6 and 8, although some lakes are naturally acidic even without the effects of acid rain. Acid rain primarily affects sensitive bodies of water, which are located in watersheds1 whose soils have a limited ability to neutralize acidic compounds (called “buffering capacity”). Lakes and streams become acidic (pH value goes down) when the water itself and its surrounding soil cannot buffer the acid rain enough to neutralize it. In areas where buffering capacity is low, acid rain also releases aluminum from soils into lakes and streams; aluminum is highly toxic to many species of aquatic organisms. . . . Where Does Acid Rain Affect Lakes and Streams? Many lakes and streams examined in a National Surface Water Survey (NSWS) suffer from chronic acidity, a condition in which water has a constant low pH level. The survey investigated the effects of acidic deposition in over 1,000 lakes larger than 10 acres and in thousands of miles of streams believed to be sensitive to acidification. Of the lakes and streams surveyed, acid rain caused acidity in 75 percent of the acidic lakes and about 50 percent of the acidic streams. Several regions in the U.S. were identified as containing many of the surface waters sensitive to acidification. They include the Adirondacks and Catskill Mountains in New York state, the mid-Appalachian highlands along the east coast, the upper Midwest, and mountainous areas of the Western United States. In areas like the Northeastern United States, where soil buffering capacity is poor, some lakes now have a pH value of less than 5. One of the most acidic lakes reported is Little Echo Pond in Franklin, New York. Little Echo Pond has a pH of 4.2. . . . Emissions from U.S. sources also contribute to acidic deposition in eastern Canada, where the soil is very similar to the soil of the Adirondack Mountains, and the lakes are consequently extremely vulnerable to chronic acidification problems. The Canadian government has estimated that 14,000 lakes in eastern Canada are acidic. How Does Acid Rain Affect Fish and Other Aquatic Organisms? Acid rain causes a cascade of effects that harm or kill individual fish, reduce fish population numbers, completely eliminate fish species from a waterbody, and decrease biodiversity. As acid rain flows through soils in a watershed, aluminum is released from soils into the lakes and streams located in that watershed. So, as pH in a lake or stream decreases, aluminum levels increase. Both low pH and increased aluminum levels are directly toxic to fish. In addition, low pH and increased aluminum levels cause chronic stress that may not kill individual fish, but leads to lower body weight and smaller size and makes fish less able to compete for food and habitat. Some types of plants and animals are able to tolerate acidic waters. Others, however, are acid-sensitive and will be lost as the pH declines. Generally, the young of most species are more sensitive to environmental conditions than adults. At pH 5, most fish eggs cannot hatch. At lower pH levels, some adult fish die. Some acid lakes have no fish. . . .
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How Does Acid Rain Affect Ecosystems? Together, biological organisms and the environment in which they live are called an ecosystem. The plants and animals living within an ecosystem are highly interdependent. For example, frogs may tolerate relatively high levels of acidity, but if they eat insects like the mayfly, they may be affected because part of their food—regions draining to particular bodies of water supply may disappear. Because of the connections between the many fish, plants, and other organisms living in an aquatic ecosystem, changes in pH or aluminum levels affect biodiversity as well. Thus, as lakes and streams become more acidic, the numbers and types of fish and other aquatic plants and animals that live in these waters decrease. . . . What Society Can Do About Acid Deposition There are several ways to reduce acid rain, more properly called acid deposition, ranging from societal changes to individual action. . . . Clean Up Smokestacks and Exhaust Pipes Almost all of the electricity that powers modern life comes from burning fossil fuels like coal, natural gas, and oil. Acid deposition is caused by two pollutants that are released into the atmosphere, or emitted, when these fuels are burned: sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOX). . . . Use Alternative Energy Sources There are other sources of electricity besides fossil fuels. They include: nuclear power, hydropower, wind energy, geothermal energy, and solar energy. Of these, nuclear and hydropower are used most widely; wind, solar, and geothermal energy have not yet been harnessed on a large scale in this country. There are also alternative energies available to power automobiles, including natural gas powered vehicles, battery-powered cars, fuel cells, and combinations of alternative and gasoline powered vehicles. All sources of energy have environmental costs as well as benefits. Some types of energy are more expensive to produce than others, which means that not all Americans can afford all types of energy. Nuclear power, hydropower, and coal are the cheapest forms today, but changes in technologies and environmental regulations may shift that in the future. All of these factors must be weighed when deciding which energy source to use today and which to invest in for tomorrow. . . . Take Action as Individuals It may seem like there is not much that one individual can do to stop acid deposition. However, like many environmental problems, acid deposition is caused by the cumulative actions of millions of individual people. Therefore, each individual can also reduce their contribution to the problem and become part of the solution. One of the first steps is to understand the problem and its solutions. Individuals can contribute directly by conserving energy, since energy production causes the largest portion of the acid deposition problem. For example, you can: ■ Turn off lights, computers, and other appliances when you’re not using them. ■ Use energy efficient appliances: lighting, air conditioners, heaters, refrigerators, washing machines, etc. ■ Only use electric appliances when you need them. ■ Keep your thermostat at 68 F in the winter and 72 F in the summer. You can turn it even lower in the winter and higher in the summer when you are away from home. ■ Insulate your home as best you can. ■ Carpool, use public transportation, or better yet, walk or bicycle whenever possible.
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Buy vehicles with low NOX emissions, and maintain all vehicles well. Be well-informed.
—U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, adapted and excerpted from “Clean Air Markets— Environmental Issues,” www.epa.gov 1
watersheds—ridges or stretches of high land dividing areas drained by a river or river system Emission Sources of Sulfer Dioxide (SO²) and Nitrogen Oxide (NOx) from Canada and the United States (1998)
Electric Utilities
Transportation
Fuel Combustion
Other
100%
100%
75%
75%
50%
50%
25%
25%
0%
CAN.
U.S.
CAN.
U.S.
CAN.
SO² Emissions NOx Emissions Source (adapted): “Acid rain and the facts,” www.ec.gc.ca
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Industrial Sources
U.S.
CAN.
U.S.
CAN.
U.S.
0%
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1. According to the text, one example of dry deposition is (1) (2) (3) (4)
fog. snow. acidic rain. acidic particles.
Correct answer: (4) This is a recall question. The stem of the question states, “According to the text”; therefore, the information is contained therein. Line 7 states, “Dry deposition refers to acidic gases and particles.” 2. According to the text, dry deposition poses a problem because it can (1) (2) (3) (4)
increase the acidity of rain runoff. slow chemical reactions in the atmosphere. reduce the nutritional value of foods. replace essential nutrients in plants.
Correct answer: (1) This is a recall question also. Lines 10 and 11 state, “. . . the runoff water adds those acids to the acid rain, making the combination more acidic than the falling rain alone.” 3. The pH of rain is affected by compounds containing both (1) (2) (3) (4)
helium and hydrogen. oxygen and sodium. aluminum and potassium. sulfur and nitrogen.
Correct answer: (4) This is an analysis question. While the text does state, “Scientists discovered, and have confirmed, that sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOX) are the primary causes of acid rain,” the pH scale is not referenced until line 21, “Acid rain is measured using a scale called ‘pH.’ The lower a substance’s pH, the more acidic it is.” Through analysis, the reader can relate sulfur and nitrogen compounds to the lowering of pH, which indicates an increase in acidity. 4. According to the text, acid rain is characterized by a (1) (2) (3) (4)
high overall density. low pH value. pleasant smell. reddish color.
Correct answer: (2) This is a recall question. Line 21 states, “Acid rain is measured using a scale called ‘pH.’ The lower a substance’s pH, the more acidic it is.”
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5. As used in the text, the term “chronic acidity” (line 48), most nearly means that the level of acidity (1) (2) (3) (4)
fluctuates. remains unchanged. decreases steadily. disappears.
Correct answer: (2) This is a vocabulary question. Line 48 states that the “water has a constant low pH level,” which means the level of acidity remains unchanged. 6. The last section of the text is designed primarily to present (1) (2) (3) (4)
personal reactions. scientific data. historical perspectives. practical suggestions.
Correct answer: (4) This is a recall question. The last section of the text is titled, “Take Action as Individuals.” This would indicate that, logically, it would have some practical solutions to stop acid deposition. 7. According to the graph, the largest source of nitrogen oxide (NOX) emissions in both Canada and the United States is (1) (2) (3) (4)
transportation. electric utilities. fuel combustion. industrial sources.
Correct answer: (1) This is a recall question. The stem of the question, “According to the graph,” indicates the information is contained in the graph. The country designations are located on the bottom of the chart. The nitrogen oxide column is indicated by NOX and is shaded gray. The largest source of emissions in both Canada and the United States, therefore, is in the Transportation column, where it exceeds 50 percent. The bars for that area extend farther than the other NOX bars. As the bars rise up the chart, the percentages increase. 8. According to the graph, what sources of nitrogen oxide (NOX) in the United States produce identical emission percentages? (1) (2) (3) (4)
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Fuel combustion and other Transportation and industrial sources Electric utilities and transportation Fuel combustion and transportation
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Reading and Writing for Information and Understanding Correct answer: (1) This is a recall question. The question is limited to the U.S. only and to nitrogen oxide emissions. Upon referencing the graph, the gray bars representing nitrogen oxide emissions are identical in the areas of Fuel Combustion and Other. They extend the same distance, vertically, representing the identical percentage of emissions. 9. According to the graph, the largest producer of sulfur dioxide emissions in the United States is (1) (2) (3) (4)
transportation. industrial sources. fuel combustion. electric utilities.
Correct answer: (4) This is a recall question. Sulfer dioxide emissions are represented by the solid bars. The U.S. column that has a black bar rising higher than any other U.S. column is in the Electric Utilities category. It extends well over the 50 percent level. 10. According to the graph, the United States and Canada have their lowest amount of sulfur dioxide (SO2) in emissions caused by (1) (2) (3) (4)
transportation. electric utilities. fuel combustion. industrial sources.
Correct answer: (3) This is a recall question. For both the United States and Canada, the lowest amount of sulfur dioxide emissions (represented by the solid bars) is in the Fuel Combustion column.
Essay For this section you must also write a response. Carefully read the Directions, The Situation, Your Task, and Guidelines, as they provide directions and helpful information about the passage. The written response is usually in the following formats: ■ ■ ■
An article A report The body of a letter
Be aware of: ■ ■ ■
Audience (who you’re writing for) Tone (the attitude of your expression) Opinion (whether you are being asked to agree or disagree with an issue)
Include all relevant information from the passage that supports your ideas.
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CliffsTestPrep Regents English Workbook A good way to organize your writing would be a standard, three-paragraph format consisting of the following: ■ ■ ■
Introduction Body Conclusion
While the conclusion is merely a summary, you can use the guidelines to help you structure the first two paragraphs in the following manner: Introduction: Tell your audience what they need to know about acid rain, its impact on North America, and what can be done to reduce the problem. Body: Use specific, accurate, and relevant information from the text and the graph to support your discussion. In your introductory paragraph, describe acid rain and its impact on North America. Also, introduce some solutions to the problem. Acid rain is a general term to describe how acids “fall out of the atmosphere.” More accurately, the term is “acid deposition,” which consists of two parts: wet and dry. Acid deposition can damage forests, soils, fish and other living things, materials, and even adversely affect human health. Also, it reduces visibility in the air. The ways to reduce acid deposition include both societal changes and actions on the part of individuals. In your first paragraph, you have generally defined acid rain, related its effects, and suggested two major approaches to solving the problem. In the body, you will further develop an explanation of acid rain, its detrimental impact on North America, and some possible solutions to the problem. It would be effective to use the emboldened subheadings to organize the paragraphs in your report. In the first paragraph of the body, define acid rain in more detail and what causes it. Start by describing wet deposition as covered in lines 2-6. Then move on to dry deposition based on the information in lines 7-11. Include that prevailing winds can blow the compounds over hundreds of miles. Lines 14-19 state that sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides are the major causes of acid rain. Specifically, “In the U.S., about 2/3 of all SO2 and 1/4 of all NOX comes from electric power generation that relies on burning fossil fuels like coal” (lines 15 and 16). When these gases react in the atmosphere with water, oxygen, and other chemicals, they form a variety of acidic compounds. As stated in the article, “sunlight increases the rate of most of these reactions” and “the result is a mild solution of sulfuric acid and nitric acid” (lines 18 and 19). This would be a good place to include the required information from the chart, since that information specifically relates to emission sources of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide from Canada and the United States. In the second paragraph of the body, discuss how acid rain is measured. Describe the pH scale and stress that the “lower a substance’s pH, the more acidic it is” (line 21). Describe the two networks that monitor acid rain’s pH and the chemicals that cause acid rain. Wet deposition is measured by the National Atmospheric Deposition Program, and the Clean Air Status and Trends Network (CASTNET) measures dry deposition. Both agencies are supported by the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) and have websites to distribute information and data.
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Reading and Writing for Information and Understanding The third paragraph of the body will give the specific effects of acid rain. In the first paragraph, you gave the general effects included under the subheading What Are Acid Rain’s Effects? Specifically, you will describe how acid rain affects the following: ■ ■ ■
Lakes and streams Fish and other aquatic organisms Ecosystems
There is an abundance of information that can be quoted or paraphrased from the text of the article. The fourth paragraph of the body can incorporate the subheading about societal measures to control acid rain. The first method is to clean up smokestacks and exhaust pipes. Two pollutants are emitted into the atmosphere when fossil fuels like coal, natural gas, and oil are burned. They are sulfur dioxides and nitrogen oxides. If those emissions could be limited by cleaning up smokestacks and exhaust pipes, the amount of acid rain would be reduced. Another societal approach would be to use alternative sources of energy like nuclear power, hydropower, wind energy, geothermal energy, and solar energy. Alternative energy to power automobiles would be effective in reducing emissions, too. These include natural gas, battery power, fuel cells, and combinations of alternative and gasoline-powered vehicles. It is important to remember that all sources of energy have both environmental costs as well as benefits. While nuclear power, hydropower, and coal are the cheapest today, that may change in the future as technology and environmental regulations shift. The last paragraph of the presentation will include actions that individuals can take to help solve the problem of acid rain. There is a bulleted list, lines 109-118, that should be cited as proofs as to how individuals can be part of the solution.
Passage Five Directions: Read the text and study the table on the following pages, answer the multiple-choice questions,and write a response based on the situation described below. You may use the margins to take notes as you read and scrap paper to plan your response. The Situation: Your social studies class is creating a publication entitled “Global Food Production in the Twenty-first Century.” You have decided to write an article for this publication in which you describe ways of using irrigation to increase food production. Your Task: Using relevant information from both documents, write an article to be included in your social studies class publication in which you describe ways of using irrigation to increase food production.
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Guidelines Be sure to . . . ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
Tell your audience what they need to know about ways of using irrigation to increase food production. Use specific, accurate, and relevant information from the text and the table to develop your article. Use a tone and level of language appropriate for an article for your social studies class. Organize your ideas in a logical and coherent manner. Indicate any words taken directly from the text by using quotation marks or referring to the author. Follow the conventions of standard written English.
Growing more Food with less Water
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Six thousand years ago farmers in Mesopotamia dug a ditch to divert water from the Euphrates River. With that successful effort to satisfy their thirsty crops, they went on to form the world’s first irrigation-based civilization. This story of the ancient Sumerians is well known. What is not so well known is that Sumeria was one of the earliest civilizations to crumble in part because of the consequences of irrigation. . . . Far more people depend on irrigation in the modern world than did in ancient Sumeria. About 40 percent of the world’s food now grows in irrigated soils, which make up 18 percent of global cropland. . . . Farmers who irrigate can typically reap two or three harvests every year and get higher crop yields. As a result, the spread of irrigation has been a key factor behind the near tripling of global grain production since 1950. Done correctly, irrigation will continue to play a leading role in feeding the world, but as history shows, dependence on irrigated agriculture also entails significant risks. . . . Severe water scarcity presents the single biggest threat to future food production. Even now many freshwater sources—underground aquifers1 and rivers—are stressed beyond their limits. As much as 8 percent of food crops grows on farms that use groundwater faster than the aquifers are replenished, and many large rivers are so heavily diverted that they don’t reach the sea for much of the year. As the number of urban dwellers climbs to five billion by 2025, farmers will have to compete even more aggressively with cities and industry for shrinking resources. Despite these challenges, agricultural specialists are counting on irrigated land to produce most of the additional food that will be needed worldwide. Better management of soil and water, along with creative cropping patterns, can boost production from cropland that is watered only by rainfall, but the heaviest burden will fall on irrigated land. To fulfill its potential, irrigated agriculture requires a thorough redesign organized around two primary goals: cut water demands of mainstream agriculture and bring low-cost irrigation to poor farmers. Fortunately, a great deal of room exists for improving the productivity of water used in agriculture. A first line of attack is to increase irrigation efficiency. At present, most farmers irrigate their crops by flooding their fields or channeling the water down parallel furrows, relying on gravity to move the water across the land. The plants absorb only a small fraction of the water; the rest drains into rivers or aquifers, or evaporates. In many locations this practice not only wastes and pollutes water but also degrades the land through erosion, waterlogging and salinization. More efficient and environmentally sound technologies exist that could reduce water demand on farms by up to 50 percent. . . .
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Efforts aside from irrigation technologies can also help reduce agricultural demand for water. Much potential lies in scheduling the timing of irrigation to more precisely match plants’ water needs. Measurements of climate factors such as temperature and precipitation can be fed into a computer that calculates how much water a typical plant is consuming. Farmers can use this figure to determine, quite accurately, when and how much to irrigate their particular crops throughout the growing season. A 1995 survey conducted by the University of California at Berkeley found that, on average, farmers in California who used this tool reduced water use by 13 percent and achieved an 8 percent increase in yield—a big gain in water productivity. An obvious way to get more benefit out of water is to use it more than once. Some communities use recycled wastewater. . . . Treated wastewater accounts for 30 percent of Israel’s agricultural water supply, for instance, and this share is expected to climb to 80 percent by 2025. Developing new crop varieties offers potential as well. In the quest for higher yields, scientists have already exploited many of the most fruitful agronomic options for growing more food with the same amount of water. The hybrid wheat and rice varieties that spawned the green revolution, for example, were bred to allocate more of the plants’ energy—and thus their water uptake—into edible grain. The widespread adoption of high-yielding and early-maturing rice varieties has led to a roughly threefold increase in the amount of rice harvested per unit of water consumed—a tremendous achievement. No strategy in sight—neither conventional breeding techniques nor genetic engineering—could repeat those gains on such a grand scale, but modest improvements are likely. Yet another way to do more with less water is to reconfigure our diets. The typical North American diet, with its large share of animal products, requires twice as much water to produce as the less meat-intensive diets common in many Asian and some European countries. Eating lower on the food chain could allow the same volume of water to feed two Americans instead of one, with no loss in overall nutrition. Reducing the water demands of mainstream agriculture is critical, but irrigation will never reach its potential to alleviate rural hunger and poverty without additional efforts. Among the world’s approximately 800 million undernourished people are millions of poor farm families who could benefit dramatically from access to irrigation water or to technologies that enable them to use local water more productively. Most of these people live in Asia and Africa, where long dry seasons make crop production difficult or impossible without irrigation. For them, conventional irrigation technologies are too expensive for their small plots, which typically encompass fewer than five acres. Even the least expensive motorized pumps that are made for tapping groundwater cost about $350, far out of reach for farmers earning barely that much in a year. Where affordable irrigation technologies have been made available, however, they have proved remarkably successful. I traveled to Bangladesh in 1998 to see one of these successes firsthand. Torrential rains drench Bangladesh during the monsoon months, but the country receives very little precipitation the rest of the year. Many fields lie fallow during the dry season, even though groundwater lies less than 20 feet below the surface. Over the past 17 years a foot-operated device called a treadle pump has transformed much of this land into productive, year-round farms. To an affluent Westerner, this pump resembles a StairMaster exercise machine and is operated in much the same way. The user pedals up and down on two long bamboo poles, or treadles, which in turn activate two steel cylinders. Suction pulls groundwater into the cylinders and then dispenses it into a channel in the field. Families I spoke with said they often treadled four to six hours a day to irrigate their rice paddies and vegetable plots. But the hard work paid off: not only were they no longer hungry during the dry season, but they had surplus vegetables to take to market. Costing less than $35, the treadle pump has increased the average net income for these farmers—which is often as little as a dollar a
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day—by $100 a year. To date, Bangladeshi farmers have purchased some 1.2 million treadle pumps, raising the productivity of more than 600,000 acres of farmland. Manufactured and marketed locally, the pumps are injecting at least an additional $350 million a year into the Bangladeshi economy. . . . Over the next quarter of a century the number of people living in water stressed countries will climb from 500 million to three billion. New technologies can help farmers around the world supply food for the growing population while simultaneously protecting rivers, lakes and aquifers. But broader societal changes—including slower population growth and reduced consumption—will also be necessary. Beginning with Sumeria, history warns against complacency when it comes to our agricultural foundation. With so many threats to the sustainability and productivity of our modern irrigation base now evident, it is a lesson worth heeding. —Sandra Postel, excerpted from “Growing more Food with less Water,” Scientific American, February 2001
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aquifers—water-bearing layers of rock, sand, or gravel
Irrigation Systems System Type
Description
Disadvantages
Advantages
Surface
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Fields are flooded or water is channeled down parallel furrows ■ Gravity moves water across the land ■ Most common form of irrigation worldwide
Plants absorb only a small fraction of the water; the rest drains into rivers or aquifers, or evaporates ■ Often wastes and pollutes wtater ■ Degrades land through erosion, waterlogging, and salinization (the toxic buildup of salts and other impurities left behind when water evaporates)
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Drip
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Water is delivered directly to plants’ roots drop by drop ■ Water travels at low pressure through network of perforated plastic tubing installed on or below soil surface, and it emerges through small holes at slow, steady pace ■ Used in about 1 percent of world’s irrigated fields
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Relatively high cost
Relatively low cost
Almost no water is wasted Reduces water use by 30 to 70 percent ■ Increases crop yield by 20 to 90 percent compared with flooding methods ■ ■
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System Type
Description
Disadvantages
Advantages
Sprinkler
■ Traditional high-pressure sprinklers spray water high into air to cover as large a land area as possible ■ New low-energy sprinklers deliver water in small doses through nozzles positioned just above the ground ■ Used in 10 to 15 percent of world’s irrigated fields
Relatively high cost With traditional highpressure sprinklers, the more time the water spends in the air, the more of it evaporates and blows off course before reaching plants
■ Almost no water wasted with low-energy sprinklers; plants absorb 90 to 95 percent of water that leaves the nozzle
■ ■
Source (adapted): “Growing more Food with Less Water,” Scientific American, February 2001
1. The author implies that the major advantage of irrigation in modern times is that it (1) (2) (3) (4)
permits travelers to navigate the Euphrates River. enables farmers to grow more food. encourages scholars to research ancient civilizations. allows consumers to buy fresher goods.
Correct answer: (2) This is an inference question. The author states in lines 9 and 10, “the spread of irrigation has been a key factor behind the near tripling of global grain production since 1950.” Therefore, the reader can infer that irrigation would enable farmers to grow more food. The other three choices are not relevant to the concept of using irrigation to increase crop production. 2. In lines 12-17, the author implies that a major challenge to food production exists because (1) (2) (3) (4)
the fertility of soil has been decreasing. many rivers have become polluted. the world’s urban population has been growing. many farmers have sold their farms.
Correct answer: (3) The author implies that “As the number of urban dwellers climbs to five billion by 2025, farmers will have to compete even more aggressively with cities and industry for shrinking resources.” The reader must then infer that the challenge to food production is a result of this increase in urban population. While the other choices may have validity, they do not represent the author’s implication.
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3. The 1995 survey by the University of California revealed the effects of using computers to (1) (2) (3) (4)
determine the best times for irrigation. help farmers repair damaged irrigation systems. develop plants that do not need irrigation. compare one irrigation system to another.
Correct answer: (1) This is a recall question. The survey is described in lines 36-38, “A 1995 survey conducted by the University of California at Berkeley found that, on average, farmers in California who used this tool reduced water use by 13 percent and achieved an 8 percent increase in yield—a big gain in water productivity.” However, the reader has to observe the preceding lines to explain that the tool is a computer and how it is used: “Measurements of climate factors such as temperature and precipitation can be fed into a computer that calculates how much water a typical plant is consuming. Farmers can use this figure to determine, quite accurately, when and how much to irrigate their particular crops throughout the growing season.” 4. “Water productivity” (line 38) is a measure of both water use and the (1) (2) (3) (4)
number of farmers involved. cost of technology used. type of seed planted. amount of crop raised.
Correct answer: (4) This is a recall question; line 38 states that an “8 percent increase in yield” was achieved. 5. The author implies that feeding North Americans requires more water than feeding other populations because (1) (2) (3) (4)
hybrid grains use more water than traditional varieties. North Americans drink more beverages than other people. meat production uses more water than grain production. North Americans use water-intensive farming methods.
Correct answer: (3) This is an inference question. In lines 50-52, it states that the “typical North American diet” has a “large share of animal products,” and it “requires twice as much water to produce as the less meat-intensive diets common in many Asian and some European countries”; therefore, it takes more water to produce meat than grain. For choice 1, there is no information in the article about hybrid grains using more water. Americans drinking more beverages than other people, choice 2, is not referenced in the article, either. While the article does reference wasteful methods of irrigation (flooding of fields and channeling the water, lines 25 and 26), it is not specifically related to North Americans; therefore, choice 4 is incorrect.
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6. According to the author, one difficulty of farming in Bangladesh is that (1) (2) (3) (4)
laws discourage farmers from using irrigation. heavy rains are followed by long dry spells. much of the groundwater has become polluted. fields are often destroyed by monsoons.
Correct answer: (2) This is a recall question because in lines 66 and 67 the author states “Torrential rains drench Bangladesh during the monsoon months, but the country receives very little precipitation the rest of the year.” 7. Treadle pumps are powered by (1) (2) (3) (4)
people. wind. water. electricity.
Correct answer: (1) If the reader knows the meaning of the work “tread” in “treadle,” the answer can be determined. “Tread” means to walk, so a “treadle” would be a device that people walked upon to pump water. However, without that knowledge, this is a recall question. The answer can be found in lines 68 and 69: “Over the past 17 years a foot-operated device called a treadle pump has transformed much of this land into productive, year-round farms.” 8. The discussion of the treadle pump is used to illustrate the idea that (1) (2) (3) (4)
water supplies are rapidly vanishing. computers have become widely available. irrigation techniques are poorly understood. inexpensive technologies can be highly effective.
Correct answer: (4) This question builds on the previous one (scaffolding) and is an example of analysis. The pump is simply made and needs no other source of power except human power to irrigate the fields; therefore, it is an inexpensive technology that is effective. While choices 1 and 3 may be true, they do not relate to the importance of the treadle pump as a technology. Computers are an expensive, sophisticated application of technology in contrast to the treadle pump, which is simple. Therefore, choice 2 is not correct.
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9. According to the table, the major difference in the three irrigation systems is the (1) (2) (3) (4)
way the water is delivered to the plants. number of people needed to operate the system. kind of plants being irrigated. purity of water used in the system.
Correct answer: (1) Just by referencing the chart briefly, the reader could deduce that disadvantages and advantages among systems may be different or the same to some degree; however, the system type would be distinctly different. This is a recall question, and that hypothesis can be verified by reading the chart and comparing and contrasting. 10. According to the table, low-energy sprinklers have an advantage over high-pressure sprinklers because, with low-energy sprinklers, the water (1) (2) (3) (4)
reaches plant roots when it is fresher. spends less time in the air. spreads out over a larger area. causes less damage to plant leaves.
Correct answer: (2) This is a recall question. In the Description column of the chart, it states, “New low-energy sprinklers deliver water in small doses through nozzles positioned just above the ground.” In the Advantages column it states, “Almost no water wasted with low-energy sprinklers. Plants absorb 90 to 95 percent of water that leaves the nozzle.” Conversely, high-pressure sprinklers, as described in the Disadvantages column, cause water to spend more time in the air and “more of it evaporates and blows off course before reaching plants.” So the point is proved in the negative, also.
Essay For this section you must also write a response. Carefully read the Directions, The Situation, Your Task, and Guidelines, as they provide directions and helpful information about the passage. The written response is usually in the following formats: ■ ■ ■
An article A report The body of a letter
Be aware of: ■ ■ ■
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Audience (who you’re writing for) Tone (the attitude of your expression) Opinion (whether you are being asked to agree or disagree with an issue)
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Reading and Writing for Information and Understanding Include all relevant information from the passage that supports your ideas. A good way to organize your writing would be a standard, three-paragraph format consisting of the following: ■ ■ ■
Introduction Body Conclusion
While the conclusion is merely a summary, you can use the guidelines to help you structure the first two paragraphs in the following manner: Introduction: Tell your audience what they need to know about ways of using irrigation to increase food production. Body: Use specific, accurate, and relevant information from the text and the table to develop your article. The introductory paragraph should establish the relationship of growing more food with less water, the role that irrigation plays in this concept, and the consequences of depending too much on irrigation. It should stress the problems of water scarcity and its threat to future food production; also, that irrigated agriculture needs a complete redesign based on two primary goals: the cutting of water demands and more low cost irrigation to poor farmers. The body elaborates upon those two goals. First, irrigation efficiency should be increased. Flooding or channeling water into fields relying on gravity wastes water because plants can’t fully absorb it; therefore, more sound technologies that currently exist could reduce water usage. A reference must be made to the chart, and this would be an effective place to do so when discussing types of irrigation, advantages, and disadvantages, because that information is contained in the chart. Referencing the passage again, the importance of climate factors like temperature and precipitation and its effect on conserving water should be discussed, too. Additional factors like using wastewater, growing hybrid wheat and rice varieties with high yields, and even changing from meat-intensive to grain-based diets in order to conserve water should be acknowledged. Another part of the body should cover rural hunger and poverty and how these problems can be addressed. Conventional irrigation systems are too costly and could be replaced with the simpler, less costly, but still effective means of irrigation like the treadle pump described in the second-to-last paragraph of the passage. Use details from the text to support this premise. The concluding paragraph projects the future regarding population increases, population control, reduced consumption, protection of natural resources, and the introduction of new technologies. This relates directly to the theme of your social studies class publication, “Global Food Production in the Twenty-first Century.”
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Passage Six Directions: Read the text and study the timeline, answer the multiple-choice questions, and write a response based on the situation described below. You may use the margins to take notes as you read and scrap paper to plan your response. The Situation: Your economics class is studying the effects of consumerism. For a class debate, your teacher has asked you to write a position paper discussing whether consumer culture has had a positive or negative impact on society. Your Task: Using relevant information from both documents, write a position paper for your economics class in which you discuss whether consumer culture has had a positive or negative impact on society.
Guidelines Be sure to . . . ■ ■ ■
■ ■ ■ ■
Tell your audience what they need to know about the impacts of consumer culture. Discuss whether consumer culture has had a positive or negative impact on society. Use specific, accurate, and relevant information from the text and the timeline to support your position. Use a tone and level of language appropriate for a position paper for an economics class. Organize your ideas in a logical and coherent manner. Indicate any words taken directly from the text by using quotation marks or referring to the author. Follow the conventions of standard written English.
The Consumer Culture
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Steve Brigance joined the throngs of shoppers at the vast Potomac Mills mall in Woodbridge, Va., for one reason: to pick up a pair of shoes for his wife. His mission accomplished, he pushes his young son and daughter in their stroller from store window to store window, checking out the season’s offerings. But he’s done his shopping for the day. . . . And Potomac Mills—with its 230 stores and 1.7 million square feet of space—is the place to go. Indeed, Brigance says, malls like the mammoth emporium literally feed our nation’s obsession with acquiring things. . . . But while the unbridled consumerism symbolized by Potomac Mills worries Brigance, other shoppers at the bustling mall are untroubled by Americans’ embrace of shopping as recreation. “I don’t see anything wrong with it,” says Rebecca Michalski, a sixth-grade teacher from Fairfax, Va. “I come to Potomac Mills sometimes with my family, and we find that it’s a good way to spend time together.” Moreover, she dismisses the criticism of people like herself who enjoy shopping. “Look, people spend their time the way they want to,” she says, “and that’s no one else’s business.”
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That may be true, says Michael Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a consumer advocacy group. But advertising and marketing have become such strong forces in our society, he says, that consumption for many people has become less a question of personal choice and more a compulsion. . . . According to Jacobson, [author Mark] Buchanan and other critics of consumerism, the need to buy is literally programmed into us by the media, through advertising and the glorification of material wealth. “The idea that you can buy fulfillment is repeated constantly in the media, like background noise,” says Betsy Taylor, executive director of the Center for a New American Dream, a think tank in Takoma Park, Md., that focuses on “quality of life” issues. In addition, critics say, consumerism has displaced other, more important yearnings, such as spending time with our families and in our communities. “Even among religious people I see it,” Buchanan says. “They rush out of church on Sunday so that they can go to the mall and shop.” But other observers, economists among them, see the criticism of consumerism as misdirected. They argue that consumers are not brainwashed slaves to shopping but intelligent people who know what they want and usually purchase things they genuinely feel that they need. . . . In the final analysis, [economists Diane] Furchtgott-Roth, [Martin] Regalia and others say, consumer spending drives the economy, creating jobs and bringing material prosperity to many millions of Americans. “The people who make all of these goods use the money they’re paid to do things like buy a house, send their kids to school and build their churches,” Regalia says. Still, the critics contend, society needs to impose some limits on what they see as rampant and harmful consumerism, especially when it’s directed at children. Many critics of consumerism even say that television advertising aimed at children should be severely limited at the very least, or banned. . . . “Kids are very susceptible to advertising, and advertisers know it,” says Kathryn C. Montgomery, president of the Center for Media Education, a children’s advocacy group. In addition, Montgomery and others argue, the constant barrage of advertising prods children to frequently ask for things that their parents either can’t afford or don’t want them to have. . . . But others argue that it is for parents, not government regulators, to decide what their children watch. “Parents have certain standards, and they impose those standards on their kids,” says Jeff Bobeck, a spokesman for the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB). Opponents of putting limits on advertising also argue that commercials do not send children pernicious1 messages or turn them into bad citizens. Indeed, Bobeck and others point out, most of today’s adults grew up on television and are now productive and law-abiding citizens. . . . Taylor and others argue that the desire to reduce or even replace important needs in our lives with consumption is prompted to a large extent by the media, with their almost relentless barrage of advertisements. Indeed, according to a recent article in Business Week, the average American is exposed to 3,000 commercial messages per day, from television and newspaper advertisements to billboards, signs and logos on clothing. . . . “The message is that you are the center of the universe, that you have needs and that you won’t be fulfilled until you buy the right product to fill those needs,” Taylor says. . . . The problem with this message, Jacobson and others say, is that it’s misleading, because happiness and fulfillment are not the natural byproducts of consumption. “It’s a quick fix, at best, because while you feel better for a little while, it doesn’t last and then you have to go buy something else,” says Taylor.
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Ironically, Taylor and others say, excessive shopping is not only unsatisfying but highly impractical. “One of the things that consumerism has done is to teach us to value things too little,” Buchanan says. “We always want the newest or the best version of a computer or car or whatever even when we really have no need to replace what we have.” We need to recapture the “sacredness” of things, Buchanan continues, “to appreciate the things we already have and not constantly be lusting after something more.” But others dispute this vision of addicted, unhappy consumers who buy simply to satisfy other needs, arguing that people generally purchase goods and services because they think they need them. . . . For Furchtgott-Roth and others, the beauty of the American consumer economy is that it gives people an array of choices. “On balance, more and better choices make people much happier,” says CATO’s [Stephen] Moore. “The proof is in the pudding,” he adds, referring to the simple economic reality that if Americans didn’t want more choice, the market wouldn’t respond by creating more. “And besides,” he says, “you always have the choice not to buy.” Indeed, Furchtgott-Roth and Moore argue that, contrary to what the critics of consumerism say, people are not entirely in the thrall of advertisers and marketers. “I don’t believe in the idea that the supply is creating the demand,” Moore says, “because a lot of products fail even though they’ve been introduced with sophisticated promotional and advertising campaigns.” For example, he points to failed promotional campaigns for new products, such as the infamously unsuccessful effort to introduce New Coke in the mid-1980’s. . . . Finally, the supporters say, even habitual shoppers who spend most of their time in malls shouldn’t be criticized or looked down upon. “Shopping is a leisure activity for some people,” FurchtgottRoth says. “If it’s something that they want to do, something they get value from, there’s nothing wrong with it.” But opponents of consumerism say that rampant buying is inherently wrong and that society has a responsibility to find ways to discourage it. One way, according to Robert Frank, professor at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., would be to make it more expensive for people to spend their money, especially on luxury goods. “We need to tax savings less and consumption more, to encourage people to spend less and save more,” Frank says. . . . But CATO’s Moore warns the critics to be careful about what they wish for. “Our whole economy is based on consumers buying things,” he says, “and if we stopped buying as much as we now do, the whole economy would naturally slow down” and the results would be devastating. “For starters, many people would lose their jobs.” A cutback on consuming would cause other, equally devastating results, Moore and others say. “Consumerism tends to speed the pace of innovation,” says Debbie van Opstal, senior vice president at the Council on Competitiveness, a nonprofit membership group that seeks to increase public awareness of the value of economic competition. According to van Opstal, highly selective consumers impel companies to constantly work at building better mousetraps for less. “There’s nothing that forces companies to do things better, cheaper and faster than demanding customers,” she says. . . . —David Masci, from “The Consumer Culture,” CQ Researcher, November 19, 1999
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Timeline: 1900-Present The rise of radio and TV, then the Internet, spurs consumerism 1900 1920 1948 1950 1955 1960 1978 1990 1991 1996 1998 1999 2004
Businesses are spending $500 million annually on advertising. First radio station broadcasts in Pittsburgh. Commercial television begins broadcasts to larger audiences. Diners Club issues the first credit card. First shopping malls appear. Some 90 percent of American homes have a television. Federal Trade Commission attempts, unsuccessfully, to ban TV advertising aimed at children. Average credit card debt for U.S. household is $2,250 (adjusted for inflation). FCC [Federal Communications Commission] sets some limits on children’s advertising on television. Consumer debt grows 20 percent. Average credit card debt per U.S. household reaches $4,250 (adjusted for inflation). Individual bankruptcy filings reach a record high. Average credit card debt for U.S. household is $4,500 (adjusted for inflation). Credit card debt exceeds $500 billion. Internet sales are expected to total $20 billion. Sales of products on-line are expected to reach $185 billion. Sources (excerpted and adapted): “The Consumer Culture,” CQ Researcher, November 19, 1999, and Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, Economic Trends, May 2000
1. Consumer critic Michael Jacobson believes that shopping has become (1) (2) (3) (4)
a primary goal. a harmless pastime. an extension of work. an Internet activity.
Correct answer: (1) This is an analysis question. Michael Jacobson’s belief is stated in the passage but it will have to be analyzed, if it’s not a direct quote, to determine if it matches any of the suggested answers. Lines 16 and 17 state, “he [Michael Jacobson] says, that consumption for many people has become less a question of personal choice and more a compulsion. . . .” The reader could interpret “compulsion” to mean that shopping has, indeed, become a primary (most important) goal. The remaining choices are not synonymous with the definition of compulsion (an irresistible urge or desire to act).
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2. According to lines 24 and 25, our consumer culture has the effect of (1) (2) (3) (4)
hampering financial planning. replacing family activities. inspiring worthless products. causing traffic congestion.
Correct answer: (2) This is a recall question. The stem of the question states, “According to lines 24 and 25,” which means the answer can be found there. The contention is that “consumerism has displaced other, more important yearnings, such as spending time with our families and in our communities.” 3. “Critics of consumerism” believe there should be limits placed on (1) (2) (3) (4)
spending in malls. prices for entertainment. repackaging of products. marketing to children.
Correct answer: (4) This is a recall question. The beliefs of critics are expressed in the passage. Lines 34 and 35 state, “the critics contend, society needs to impose some limits on what they see as rampant and harmful consumerism, especially when it’s directed at children.” 4. An example of the “barrage of advertisements” (line 48) includes endorsements on (1) (2) (3) (4)
furniture. food. clothing. appliances.
Correct answer: (3) This is a recall question, but the reader must look beyond line 48 to see that the “barrage of advertisements” include “logos on clothing” (line 51). 5. According to Stephen Moore (lines 87-90), slowing consumerism would result in (1) (2) (3) (4)
increased inflation. rising unemployment. new taxes. more innovation.
Correct answer: (2) This is a recall question. The stem of the question states, “According to Stephen Moore,” which indicates that it is a stated belief. Lines 89 and 90 quote Moore as saying, “For starters, many people would lose their jobs.”
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6. According to Debbie van Opstal (lines 92-96), as consumers become more selective, industry is pushed to (1) (2) (3) (4)
generate new products. promote workers faster. offer fewer choices. build customer loyalty.
Correct answer: (1) This is a recall question. The stem of the question, “According to Debbie van Opstal,” indicates the answer is in the text. She states, “Consumerism tends to speed the pace of innovation,” and “highly selective consumers impel companies to constantly work at building better mousetraps for less.” 7. The timeline indicates that the first attempt to respond to the harmful effects of television commercials took place in (1) (2) (3) (4)
1948. 1960. 1978. 1991.
Correct answer: (3) This is a recall question, because the information is on the timeline. The left-hand column indicates the years from the earliest to the latest. For the year 1978, the timeline states, “Federal Trade Commission attempts, unsuccessfully, to ban TV advertising aimed at children.” The commission wanted to protect children from the harmful effects of television advertising. 8. According to the timeline, the most recent contributor to consumerism is the (1) (2) (3) (4)
credit card. Internet. television. shopping mall.
Correct answer: (2) This is a recall question, because the information is on the timeline. Looking at the most recent entry for the year 2004, it states, “Sales of products on-line are expected to reach $185 billion.” 9. The timeline implies that consumerism is a product of (1) (2) (3) (4)
advertising use. government control. population growth. increased wealth.
Correct answer: (1) This is an inference question. If the timeline implies, the reader must infer. The timeline indicates that no matter what form of communication for advertising, it increases consumerism. This is summarized at the top of the chart in the line that states, “The rise of radio and TV, then the Internet, spurs consumerism.” The remaining choices, and the factors they represent, are not evidenced by the timeline.
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10. A valid conclusion that can be drawn from the timeline is that since 1950 consumers have increased their (1) (2) (3) (4)
purchases of expensive goods. number of credit cards. money in savings. buying on credit.
Correct answer: (4) This is an analysis question. In order to conclude, the reader must analyze. The year 1950 is a pivotal year in consumerism because that’s when Diners Club issued the first credit card, thereby giving consumers more buying power. The timeline does not reference the purchase of expensive goods, the number of credit cards per person, or the money in savings; therefore, the other choices are incorrect.
Essay For this section you must also write a response. Carefully read the Directions, The Situation, Your Task, and Guidelines, as they provide directions and helpful information about the passage. The written response is usually in the following formats: ■ ■ ■
An article A report The body of a letter
Be aware of: ■ ■ ■
Audience (who you’re writing for) Tone (the attitude of your expression) Opinion (whether you are being asked to agree or disagree with an issue)
Include all relevant information from the passage that supports your ideas. For this situation, you are being asked to write a position paper, which means you must be either pro (for) or con (against) consumerism. You cannot take both sides of the argument because your work will be used in a class debate. In order to establish whether consumerism has a positive or a negative effect on society, you must use information from the text and chart to support your argument. You should assume that there is evidence to support either side; however, the information may support one side of the debate more strongly than the other. Let’s start with the “pro” side of the argument.
Pro (For): In the introductory paragraph, generally state that consumerism does have a large and important effect on society. Then state, specifically, that it is a positive effect that builds and sustains the economy and society as a whole.
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Reading and Writing for Information and Understanding In the body of the position paper, give examples from the text and timeline that support this premise. For instance, shopping, in terms of societal needs and wants, can be seen as a recreational activity. Rebecca Michalski states in lines 10-12, “I don’t see anything wrong with it . . . I come to Potomac Mills sometimes with my family, and we find that it’s a good way to spend time together.” As to whether consumers are “brainwashed slaves,” economists say that shoppers are “intelligent people who know what they want and usually purchase things they genuinely feel that they need. . . .” (lines 28 and 29). Moreover, “[economists Diane] Furchtgott-Roth, [Martin] Regalia and others say, consumer spending drives the economy, creating jobs and bringing material prosperity to many millions of Americans” (lines 30 and 31). Refer to the timeline that states that in 2004, sales of products on the Internet were expected to exceed $185 billion. In addition, the people who make goods that are sold and consumed spend their money in the community to “‘buy a house, send their kids to school and build their churches,’ Regalia says” (lines 32 and 33). As far as advertising and consumerism adversely affecting children, Jeff Bobeck from the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) states, “Parents have certain standards, and they impose those standards on their kids . . .” (line 42). You can also cite from the timeline that in 1991, the FCC set some limits on children’s advertising on television. The American consumer economy gives people many choices that satisfy their wants and needs for services, not because they think they need them, but because they really want them. Stephen Moore, from CATO, states that if Americans didn’t want more choice, the market wouldn’t respond by creating more. “And besides, you always have the choice not to buy” (lines 70 and 71). He goes on to say that American consumerism drives the economy, and if people stopped buying, the economy would slow down and jobs would be lost. The article also states that innovation in products and services is stimulated by demanding customers and a consumer economy. In the concluding paragraph, restate your premise that consumerism has a positive effect on American society because it drives the American economy, creates job opportunities, and brings prosperity to many Americans.
Con (Against): In the introductory paragraph, generally state that consumerism does have a large and important effect on society. Then state specifically that it is a negative effect that adversely affects children, family life, and the financial security of large groups of people. In the body of the position paper, give examples from the text and timeline that support this premise. For example, the Potomac Mills mall in Woodbridge, Virginia, has 230 stores and 1.7 million square feet of space, demonstrating people’s “obsession with acquiring things.” Michael Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a consumer advocacy group, states, “advertising and marketing have become such strong forces in our society . . . that consumption for many people has become less a question of personal choice and more a compulsion. . . .” (lines 15-17). Not only Jacobson, but the author, Mark Buchanan, and other critics of consumerism think that “the need to buy is literally programmed into us by the media, through advertising and the glorification of material wealth” (lines 18-20). The American
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CliffsTestPrep Regents English Workbook consumer has been convinced that he or she can, literally, buy fulfillment by shopping more. This excessive amount of shopping has also reduced the amount of time spent with families, for other community activities, and even in church attendance. One of the worst effects of consumerism is the way it impacts children. “‘Kids are very susceptible to advertising, and advertisers know it,’ says Kathryn C. Montgomery, president of the Center for Media Education, a children’s advocacy group” (lines 37 and 38). This excessive amount of advertising makes children ask their parents for things they can’t afford or that their parents don’t want them to have in the first place. Refer to the timeline here, because it states in 1978, the Federal Trade Commission attempted to ban TV advertising directed at children. Although it failed, it shows how important an issue it is. Also, in 1991, the FCC set some limits on children’s advertising on television. Lines 46-63 go on to state how advertising negatively affects the general population. Cite examples from those lines that support your premise about the overall negative effect of consumerism on society. In a separate paragraph, address the negative financial impact of out-of-control consumerism by citing examples from the timeline. The statistics for 1990, 1996, 1998, and 1999 all strongly support the idea that consumer spending has drastically increased debt for many Americans. In the concluding paragraph, restate your premise that consumerism has a negative effect on American society because it makes shopping into an obsession, intentionally targets children, takes away from other important activities, and creates unmanageable debt for many Americans.
Passage Seven Directions: Read the text and study the graph on the following pages, answer the multiple-choice questions, and write a response based on the situation described below. You may use the margins to take notes as you read and scrap paper to plan your response. The Situation: The student council in your school is organizing a volunteer program, matching student volunteers with individuals and community organizations in need of assistance. You have been asked to write an article for your school newspaper encouraging students to volunteer by describing the trend toward student volunteerism and the benefits of such programs for both recipients and volunteers. Your Task: Using relevant information from both documents, write an article for your school newspaper in which you encourage students to volunteer by describing the trend toward teen volunteerism and the benefits of such programs for both recipients and volunteers.
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Reading and Writing for Information and Understanding
Guidelines Be sure to . . . ■
■
■ ■ ■ ■
Tell your audience what they need to know about the trend toward teen volunteerism and the benefits of such programs for both recipients and volunteers. Use specific, accurate, and relevant information from the text and the graph to support your discussion. Use a tone and level of language appropriate for an article for your school newspaper. Organize your ideas in a logical and coherent manner. Indicate any words taken directly from the text by using quotation marks or referring to the author. Follow the conventions of standard written English.
Volunteerism’s New Face
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. . . Volunteering has become a significant part of teen culture. Fifty-nine percent of 12- to 17year-olds said they’d volunteered in the past year, according to a 1996 study by the Independent Sector, the most recent national study on teen volunteering habits available. In a fall 1999 teen-age marketing and lifestyles study done by the marketing firm Teenage Research Unlimited, six in 10 teens said that volunteering was “in.” “A lot of people think we’re this big community of bad kids, and half [of] us aren’t like that at all,” says Clara, a freshman at Grant High School. “This is one way to prove that.” It is, for many teens, the new norm, a given, reinforced by the community service requirements that many schools now require to graduate, and the increase of service learning—which combines classroom lessons with volunteer projects—in many school curricula. Teen music reflects and celebrates the trend: The Backstreet Boys lend the name of their song “Larger than Life,” and free concert tickets, to a contest promoting public service. Rage Against the Machine’s album “The Battle of Los Angeles,” full of calls to action and celebrations of activism, debuts at the top of the billboard charts, selling 430,000 copies in one week. The album’s CD-liner notes explain how to contact or get involved with groups such as Rock for Choice and Women Alive. Hip-hop artist Lauryn Hill tucks information about her nonprofit, The Refugee Project, in the liner notes of her album “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.” “It’s part of the culture now,” says Clayton Miller, 16, a junior at Lincoln High School who, along with his twin brother, Greg, has traveled to Mexico to help build homes for the needy and helped shop for groceries for Portland-area people who couldn’t get to the store. “It’s kind of like learning how to read,” Greg says. “When you are taught how to help others, it begins to come naturally after a while.” Teens say they are far from being passive drones, just going through the motions of required service. They acknowledge without judgment that there are a fair number of résumé padders and kids just serving their time who make up the volunteer numbers. But young people and those who work with them say what’s interesting about teens right now is how many are choosing to do community service work beyond what is required of them, driving the trend and changing the way teen volunteers are viewed. A couple of years ago, volunteers from the AmeriCorps program going into Portland-area high schools and middle schools to help coordinate service learning projects began noticing something: A lot of kids were approaching them after class, wanting to learn more about volunteering. The kids wanted to find out what they could do outside of school, where they could go for more information. . . .
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CliffsTestPrep Regents English Workbook
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(50)
(55)
(60)
(65)
(70)
(75)
More than a decade ago, some foretold the increase in teen volunteerism. In their 1991 book Generations, William Strauss and Neil Howe predicted that this generation of teens would be civicoriented. “Teen peer leaders will express a growing interest in community affairs and a growing enthusiasm for collective action,” they wrote. In the four years following that prediction, the number of volunteers grew by 7 percent, from 12.4 million teens to 13.3 million, according to the 1996 Independent Sector study. The number of schools involving students in community service has increased dramatically in the last decade, according to a 1999 U.S. Department of Education survey. In 1984, 27 percent of high schools said they had students participating in community service. In 1999, 83 percent said they did, according to the study. Nearly half of the schools surveyed in 1999 said service learning was part of their curriculum. And students are taking volunteering beyond the classroom in increasing numbers if you look at the service organizations teens choose. Membership in Key Club, an after-school service club for high-schoolers sponsored by the Kiwanis Club, has increased steadily for the past three years. Two years ago, there were 196,000 members. Now there are 205,000, according to the national organization. At Grant High School the Octagon Club, a community service club sponsored by the Optimist Society of Lloyd Center, has grown from four members six years ago to more than 50 members this year. It’s now one of the largest Octagon Clubs in the country. For one of its projects, students feed the homeless two times a month at Grace Memorial Episcopal Church. So many students were showing up that they had more help than they could use, says adviser John Mears. A lot of teens are interested in doing volunteer work that is different from projects many teens may have done in the past, says Megan Buscho, a 15-year-old sophomore who helped set up the Youth Involvement Center at Cleveland High school and helps other students find volunteer opportunities that fit their interests. “A lot of kids aren’t interested in the usual kinds of volunteer opportunities like serving people in a soup kitchen,” she says. “They’re more interested in doing things that get to the root of the problem, like finding out what gets people in the soup kitchen in the first place and preventing that.” Some of what’s behind this is teens’ realization that they may not be able to vote, says Buscho. “But we can affect change before then. By getting out there and volunteering, adults can see what we are thinking about, what we care about, and we can influence how adults think about young people.” While teens such as Clara Ard are aware that volunteering is one way to mend the negative stereotypes adults may harbor about their generation, what’s drawing them out to rainy riverbanks on the weekends or moving them to set a table for seniors goes beyond that, teens say. Some perceive volunteering as a way to give back to their community. “The seniors at our church pray for our youth group regularly,” Ard says, “and I think it’s important to thank them.” It is a chance for teens to exercise their values—whether it’s their religious convictions, political motivations or sense of social justice. Volunteering is a way for them to be connected to something larger. “Helping others makes me feel so good,” says Josi Henderson, 18, a senior at Grant. “I really feel like my day isn’t complete without practicing some act of kindness.” She credits her volunteer experiences in high school with helping her decide what she wants to do with her life. She wants to major in speech pathology in college and, afterward, join the Peace Corps. “I really want to devote my life to helping others,” she says. “I think our generation is changing the definition of what it means to be a good citizen,” Buscho says. “It used to be that being a good citizen was about patriotism and being true to your country. Now the definition is: Know what’s going on in your country, be involved, and then you can change things. Through volunteering, we can start doing things about the issues that affect us.” —Inara Verzemnieks, from “Volunteerism’s new face,” The Oregonian, December 25, 1999
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Reading and Writing for Information and Understanding Importance of Benefits Gained from Teen Volunteering – 1996 and 1992 Benefits Gained * 95.6%
I learned to respect others.
74.7%
I learned to be helpful and kind.
75.0%
I learned how to get along with and relate to others.
73.9%
I gained satisfaction from helping others.
74.2%
93.2%
91.5%
90.2%
I learned to understand people who are different than me.
66.7%
I understand more about good citizenship.
66.8%
85.2%
83.3%
I understand more about how voluntary organizations work.
81.3% 63.8%
I’m more aware about programs in my community.
70.1% 56.0%
I explored or learned about career options.
67.0% 52.8%
I did better in school/my grades improved.
64.3% 41.8%
I’ve developed new career goals.
61.6% 43.6%
0.0%
20.0%
40.0%
60.0%
80.0%
100.0%
1996 1992 * Based on the percentage of respondents who stated that a specific benefit was "Very important" or "Somewhat important." Source (adapted): Independent Sector, 2000
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CliffsTestPrep Regents English Workbook
1. In lines 6 and 7 Clara indicates that by doing volunteer work, teens can prove that they are (1) (2) (3) (4)
competitive. skilled. intelligent. respectable.
Correct answer: (4) This is a recall question. Clara states clearly that, “A lot of people think we’re this big community of bad kids, and half [of] us aren’t like that at all. . . . This is one way to prove that.” 2. According to the writer, volunteering for social causes has been promoted by (1) (2) (3) (4)
highway signs. nonprofit organizations. musical celebrities. political leaders.
Correct answer: (3) This is a recall question. The names of the musical celebrities who promote volunteering for social causes are mentioned in lines 11-17. 3. “It’s part of the culture now” (line 18) refers to the growth of (1) (2) (3) (4)
helping needy people. performing benefit concerts. mentoring young artists. traveling to Mexico.
Correct answer: (1) This is an analysis question. The person quoted builds homes for the needy and shops for groceries; therefore, the “it” refers to helping needy people. Although choices 2 and 3 would help needy people, Clayton and his brother Greg did not do those things. They did travel to Mexico, choice 4, but that is an incomplete answer. 4. As used in line 23, “passive drones” most nearly means people who (1) (2) (3) (4)
eliminate resistance. avoid work. use caution. accept challenge.
Correct answer: (2) This is a vocabulary question. A “drone” is a worker bee, and the word “passive” means not active. Not knowing that, however, the context clue in the second part of the sentence defines the terms, “Teens say they are far from being passive drones, just going through the motions of required service.”
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Reading and Writing for Information and Understanding
5. The prediction of an increase in the civic orientation of teens (line 32) is supported by (1) (2) (3) (4)
personal interviews. expert testimonials. studies and surveys. questions and answers.
Correct answer: (3) This is a recall question. The study referenced is the 1991 book Generations, by William Strauss and Neil Howe. 6. As used in line 55, getting to “the root of the problem” most nearly means discovering the problem’s (1) (2) (3) (4)
origin. effects. solution. frequency.
Correct answer: (1) This is a vocabulary question. In the context of the sentence, the meaning of this phrase can be determined, “They’re more interested in doing things that get to the root of the problem, like finding out what gets people in the soup kitchen in the first place and preventing that.” Key words are “finding out” and the “first place” because they parallel the idea of origin. 7. Students who are too young to vote see volunteering as a way to demonstrate their (1) (2) (3) (4)
independence. talents. beliefs. education.
Correct answer: (3) This is a recall question. “Some of what’s behind this is teens’ realization that they may not be able to vote, says Buscho. ‘But we can affect change before then. By getting out there and volunteering, adults can see what we are thinking about, what we care about, and we can influence how adults think about young people.’” 8. The experience of Josi Henderson (lines 67-71) is most likely included to demonstrate that student volunteer work may lead to (1) (2) (3) (4)
finding hobbies. discovering a vocation. building a résumé. developing friendships.
Correct answer: (2) This is an analysis question. Lines 67-71 contain Josi Henderson’s explanation of why she likes to volunteer. At the end of the section she says “I really want to devote my life to helping
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CliffsTestPrep Regents English Workbook others.” Upon analysis, that devotion of her life could be considered the vocation (the occupation she desires) that she wants to choose as her life’s work. While the other choices may be results of volunteerism, they are not as substantial as finding one’s life work. 9. According to the graph, the greatest increase in benefit between 1992 and 1996 was in (1) (2) (3) (4)
getting along with and relating to others. understanding about good citizenship. exploring or learning about career options. improving academically.
Correct answer: (4) This is a recall question. As represented by the bars in the graph, the largest increase between those two years is in the area of improving academically (22.5%). The relationship of the length of the bars indicated this in addition to subtracting the 1992 percentage from the 1996 percentage. 10. According to the graph, for 1996 which benefit was most important to teen volunteers? (1) (2) (3) (4)
Respecting others Gaining satisfaction from helping Understanding differences Being aware of community
Correct answer: (1) This is a recall question. By comparing the 1996 bars, the reader can see that the longest one is for “I learned to respect others.” Also, it has the largest percentage, 95.6%, printed next to it.
Essay For this section you must also write a response. Carefully read the Directions, The Situation, Your Task, and Guidelines, as they provide directions and helpful information about the passage. The written response is usually in the following formats: ■ ■ ■
An article A report The body of a letter
Be aware of: ■ ■ ■
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Audience (who you’re writing for) Tone (the attitude of your expression) Opinion (whether you are being asked to agree or disagree with an issue)
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Reading and Writing for Information and Understanding Include all relevant information from the passage that supports your ideas. A good way to organize your writing would be a standard, three-paragraph format consisting of the following: ■ ■ ■
Introduction Body Conclusion
While the conclusion is merely a summary, you can use the guidelines to help you structure the first two paragraphs in the following manner: Introduction: Tell your audience what they need to know about the trend toward teen volunteerism and the benefits of such programs for both recipients and volunteers. Body: Use specific, accurate, and relevant information from the text and the graph to support your discussion. In the introductory paragraph, develop the premise that volunteerism has become a significant part of teen culture, with 59 percent of 12- to 17-year-olds volunteering, according to a 1996 study. In a fall 1999 study, it was reported that a majority of teens, 6 in 10, said that volunteering was “in.” Also, in the first paragraph, establish the premise that volunteer programs benefit both the recipient and the volunteer. In the body, develop both of these premises using supporting examples (proofs) from the article and the graph. Remember that in your essay, you must reference the graph, too. According to Clara, a freshman at Grant High School, “A lot of people think we’re this big community of bad kids, and half [of] us aren’t like that at all. . . . This is one way to prove that.” To prove that they’re good, they should do something good like volunteering. For many teens, it is the new norm and is reinforced by community service requirements for graduation imposed by many school curricula. Even teen music acknowledges this trend. Musical groups like the Backstreet Boys and Rage Against the Machine support volunteerism. The Backstreet Boys let their song, “Larger than Life,” be used and gave free concert tickets to a contest promoting public service. Rage Against the Machine’s album, “The Battle of Los Angeles,” calls for action and activism by young people. Hip-hop artist Lauryn Hill puts information about her non-profit, The Refugee Project, in the liner notes of her album. At this point in your essay, continue to use statistics from the text to support the first premise that volunteerism has become a significant part of teen culture. There is an abundance of such statistics in lines 18-50, including testimonial quotes from teens who have volunteered. The next major premise that needs to be developed is that volunteer programs help to benefit the volunteer, too. Starting on line 60, students give some insights into the benefits of volunteering for the person doing it, separate and apart from any benefit to the recipient. For instance, volunteering allows teens to remedy the negative stereotypes that some adults have of them. Also, it is a way to “exercise their values,” whether they are religious, political, or just reflect a sense of social justice. In addition to these quotes from teens, the graph is titled “Importance of Benefits Gained from Teen Volunteering” and contains a summary of that information. The left-hand side of the graph lists the benefits gained, the bottom
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CliffsTestPrep Regents English Workbook line indicates percentages, and the shaded bars delineate the year. The biggest benefit to individuals who volunteer is that they learn to respect others. The whole list of benefits can be used to support the premise that the volunteers have something to gain for themselves. In the concluding paragraph, summarize the two main premises; discuss the benefits of each, and how volunteerism has been growing among teens.
Passage Eight Directions: Read the text and study the table on the following pages, answer the multiple-choice questions, and write a response based on the situation described below. You may use the margins to take notes as you read and scrap paper to plan your response. The Situation: Your environmental science class is studying efforts to save endangered species. The class is creating a guide to effective methods used to save endangered species. You have chosen to contribute a chapter on the Florida manatee, explaining why the Florida manatee is endangered and discussing effective methods used to save the Florida manatee. Your Task: Using relevant information from both documents, write a chapter for a guide for your environmental science class in which you explain why the Florida manatee is endangered and discuss effective methods used to save the Florida manatee.
Guidelines Be sure to . . . ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
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Tell your audience what they need to know about why the Florida manatee is endangered. Discuss effective methods used to save the Florida manatee. Use specific, accurate, and relevant information from the text and the table to support your opinion. Use a tone and level of language appropriate for a guide for your environmental science class. Organize your ideas in a logical and coherent manner. Indicate any words taken directly from the text by using quotation marks or referring to the author. Follow the conventions of standard written English.
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Reading and Writing for Information and Understanding
Saving Florida’s Sea Cows
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(40)
A dark lump broke the surface of the water, and air rushed out of it with a whoosh. Right away we knew what it was. We stopped paddling, and our canoe slid forward silently. Soon we could see a manatee, a big one, hovering serenely below. He was as wide as the canoe, and about half as long. “He looks a little like the Goodyear blimp,” I said. “Or maybe the Hindenburg,” my friend Robin answered. “Look at those scars.” The manatee’s back bore a series of diagonal slashes, souvenirs from a chance encounter with a boat propeller. Algae had grown over the scar tissue; apparently these were old wounds, long healed. As our canoe drifted quietly, a powerful twin outboard plowed slowly up the waterway with a throaty roar, passing within 50 feet of us. The boater smiled and waved. Then he throttled up, confident the channel was clear. To our surprise, the manatee never budged. Was he deaf? Probably not. According to studies conducted by the David A. Straz Manatee Hospital at the Lowry Park Zoo in Tampa, FL, although manatees have an extremely delicate sense of hearing, they can’t hear the frequency of outboard motors very well—which may explain why boats kill and maim so many every year. It’s estimated that 90 percent of Florida’s manatees bear scars from boat strikes; nearly 300 are killed each year. And while boat collisions remain the leading cause of death in manatee populations, manatees are also killed or injured when they become entangled in or ingest fishing and crab trap lines, are caught in flood gates and canal locks, or lose habitat to development and pollution. Cold weather also kills many manatees, who are susceptible to pneumonia. According to the Department of Environmental Protection, 175 manatees died between January and June 2001— about one every day. Although manatees have been listed as endangered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service since 1972, their numbers have continued to decline. Today there are fewer than 2,000 manatees remaining in the United States. Unfortunately, the blame lies largely with us; with the possible exception of sharks, manatees have no predators. In fact, humans are responsible for about 30 percent of all manatee deaths. Florida manatees, also known as West Indian manatees, are slow-moving, near-surface swimmers. They live primarily in shallow coastal waters, feeding on the abundance of sea grasses and floating seaweed. The water above the sea grass beds tends to be uniformly dark, which camouflages the manatees and makes them practically invisible to approaching boaters. When sick or injured manatees are found in Southwest Florida waters, they’re taken to the David A. Straz Manatee Hospital. Open since 1991, it’s one of only three critical care facilities in the state. (The other federally permitted rehabilitation centers are located in aquarium/theme parks—Miami’s Seaquarium and Orlando’s Sea World.) Since its inception, the Straz hospital has cared for more than 75 manatees and released more than 30 back into the wild. But rehabilitating these animals is an expensive proposition—the hospital spends almost $30,000 per year per manatee on food alone. Cupid came to the hospital horribly emaciated on Valentine’s Day 2001. Although almost fully grown, she weighed only 435 pounds, about one third the weight of a healthy adult female. Too weak to move, she was quarantined inside a narrow concrete trough filled with fresh water, supported by a canvas sling that prevented her from drowning. According to Jennifer Hackshaw, the hospital’s general curator, Cupid’s condition was beyond critical. Her eyes were sunken, and her skin was necrotic, covered with lesions and abrasions. . . .
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(50)
(55)
(60)
(65)
(70)
(75)
Beth Wright, an associate research scientist for the Florida Marine Research Institutes’ Endangered and Threatened Species Department, tracks about 25 of these manatees by satellite from her office in St. Petersburg (each manatee has been fitted with a tag containing a satellite transmitter, a radio transmitter and a sonic beacon). The telemetric data Wright compiles will help federal agencies determine where manatees are likely to be found at different times of the year. This information will be particularly vital to the 13 coastal counties currently designated as “Manatee Protection Areas.” These counties have been required to file a three-part plan with the state, identifying boating speed zones, outlining educational programs and mapping out areas where new docks may be built. The locations of docks are a critical issue; it’s important that they not be permitted in areas that the slow-moving mammals are known to frequent. But keeping docks and manatees apart isn’t always easy. As one marine biologist at the Florida Marine Research Institute says, “Sometimes ideal manatee habitat and ideal boat habitat are one and the same.” In the early 1990s, former Florida Governor Bob Martinez ordered 13 coastal counties to create manatee protection plans, which would detail where docks, marinas and boat ramps should go, and mandate slow-speed zones, boater education and more enforcement. But a decade later, only four counties—Collier, Dade, Duvall and Citrus—have plans in place, and there are only 400 marine patrol officers to enforce the entire state’s manatee laws. Because many scientists believe that dredging and dock construction projects approved by the Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are depriving manatees of irreplaceable habitat, a lawsuit was brought against both agencies in January 2000 by a coalition of environmental groups, including the Save The Manatee Club, the Humane Society of the United States, the Sierra Club, Florida Defenders of the Environment and the International Wildlife Coalition. On April 19, a settlement was reached that calls for the review of eight areas, including Brevard County (the deadliest county for manatees), for the adoption of slow speed zones. Additionally, 14 areas are to be reviewed for the development of manatee refuges and sanctuaries. For more information, visit the Save The Manatee Club’s website. . . . Not long ago, I had the opportunity to swim with and photograph Hurricane and Buffet, two young manatees at the Lowry Park Zoo. The two were recovering nicely from boat strike injuries and were soon to be released. I squeezed into my wetsuit and joined one of the zookeepers at the main pool. She pointed toward a pair of shadows gliding across the bottom. “Let them come to you,” she said. We entered the water. There was a ledge nearby, about five feet down. I swam to it. When I looked up, Hurricane, the larger of the two, was three feet away and closing fast. The manatee nuzzled my dive mask. It was like looking into the business end of a big vacuum cleaner. Delighted, I gently pushed him back. He squinted at me. His eyes were like grey M&M’s. Then he sidled in, presenting his belly for a rub. His skin was leathery and smooth. The zookeeper gave him a vitamin-laced biscuit and a brief pat. Then he rejoined his comrade, the two of them spiraling the length of the pool in a surprising graceful underwater pas de deux.1 A few months later, fully recovered, Hurricane and Buffet were returned to the wild. ©2001 ASPCA®. All rights reserved. Reproduced with the permission of the ASPCA®.
1
pas de deux—in ballet, a dance for two performers
100
6 5 9 1 80
4 0 14 2 32
168 113 905 739 1347
4332
Flood gate/Canal lock
Other Human
Perinatal
Other Natural
Undetermined
TOTAL 77
23
4
9
9
8
24
63
19
5
13
2
8
16
80
35
41*
14
1
3
20
82
116 114
64
9
13
4
2
24
81
81
30
6
18
5
7
15
83
38
19
23
3
3
33
85
45
13
27
1
3
33
86
22
16
30
2
5
39
87
38
5
3
50
89
44
4
3
47
90
53
6
9
53
91
25
40
41
39
24 32** 67** 14
30
4
7
43
88
46
20
48
36
24
39
6
5
35
93
40
37
46
** A prolonged cold front occurred in December 1989. The temperature in Florida’s coastal waters dipped to the 40-50°F range.
* Red tide occurred in 1982 and 1996. Red tide is seawater discolored by the presence of large numbers of dinoflagellates. Toxins produced by these dinoflagellates are poisonous to many forms of marine life.
Source (adapted): www.savethemanatee.org
61
0
10
60
96
61
8
8
54
97
55 166 65
35 118* 46
56
5
8
42
95
• Undetermined (the manatee is too badly decomposed to determine cause of death, the necropsy finding is inconclusive, or manatee carcass was reported and verified, but not recovered)
• Other natural (mortalities caused by natural circumstances such as cold stress or disease)
• Perinatal (dependent calves under 4.9 feet [150 cm])
5
16
49
94
• Other human-related (deaths caused from monofilament line, litter, poaching, vandalism, culverts or other human-made structures)
• Flood gate/canal lock (crushed and/or drowned)
• Watercraft collisions
Definitions of Causes:
6
5
38
92
76
21
52
7
9
66
98
69
42
53
8
15
82
99
70
51
58
8
8
78
00
110
65
61
7
1
81
01
128 119 122 114 133 168 206 174 163 145 193 201 415 242 231 269 273 325
41
24
25
1
3
34
84
Prepared using 1976-2001 manatee mortality data from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commissions, Florida Marine Research Institute.
84
40
3
10
1
9
21
79
11:19 PM
114
13
10
1060
Watercraft Collisions
78
4/23/08
62
77
76
TOTAL
YEAR
Total Manatee Mortality in Florida By Year and Cause 1976-2001
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1. Which statement best describes the relationship between the manatee and the boater mentioned in lines 9 and 10? (1) (2) (3) (4)
They were unaware of each other. They avoided each other. They feared each other. They trusted each other.
Correct answer: (1) This is an analysis question. It’s stated that the manatee does not respond to the “throaty roar” of the nearby boat engine, and that the boater “smiled and waved” and was “confident the channel was clear.” Therefore, it may be concluded that they were unaware of each other. In choice 2, the word “avoided” implies that they were aware of each other’s presence; however, their behavior does not indicate that. As a multiple-choice test strategy, when opposites are posed in choices, they can often be eliminated. “Feared” and “trusted” are opposite emotions. Also, the behavior of the manatee and the boater would not substantiate either choice. 2. The article suggests that manatees are susceptible to injury by boats because manatees (1) (2) (3) (4)
are poor swimmers. follow fishing boats. cannot hear motors. are too large to avoid.
Correct answer: (3) This is a recall question. The stem of the question states that “The article suggests,” so the information is there, although it may not be obvious. The question is posed “Was he deaf?” referring to the manatee. Lines 12-14 state, “although manatees have an extremely delicate sense of hearing, they can’t hear the frequency of outboard motors very well—which may explain why boats kill and maim so many every year.” 3. One factor that contributes to the accidental death and injury of manatees is that they (1) (2) (3) (4)
dart in front of swimmers. blend in with their surroundings. resemble animals that people hunt. eat fish that have been rejected by fishermen.
Correct answer: (2) This is a recall question. Lines 28 and 29 state “The water above the sea grass beds tends to be uniformly dark, which camouflages the manatees and makes them practically invisible to approaching boaters.” This description supports the notion that manatees blend in with their surroundings, and that would logically contribute to their accidental death and injury.
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4. The author includes the information about Cupid for what purpose? (1) (2) (3) (4)
To suggest a method for reducing expenses To illustrate a technique for recruiting workers To propose a theory about manatee populations To provide an example of manatee rehabilitation
Correct answer: (4) This is an analysis question. The description of Cupid’s critical condition (lines 36-41) demonstrates the need for manatee rehabilitation. This description is followed by an account of Beth Wright’s efforts to provide remedies and solutions for manatee rehabilitation. The information about Cupid does not mention expenses, so choice 1 is incorrect. The next paragraphs, lines 42-53, do reference the study of manatee populations, but are not related to the story of Cupid, so choice 3 is incorrect. The description of Cupid’s critical condition could elicit sympathy from people and help recruit workers; however, that possibility is not as strong as choice 4. 5. The article implies that the information gained by Beth Wright from tracking manatees will be used to help determine (1) (2) (3) (4)
how to design boats. where to locate docks. when to release manatees. where to build rehabilitation centers.
Correct answer: (2) This is an inference question. When the author implies, the reader must infer. After describing the efforts made to protect manatees, the author states in lines 51-53, “But keeping docks and manatees apart isn’t always easy. As one marine biologist at the Florida Marine Research Institute says, ‘Sometimes ideal manatee habitat and ideal boat habitat are one and the same.’” Sometimes is not always. The inference is that although the tracking of manatees is helpful to locate them, it does not alleviate the problem of where docks are currently located. However, it can assist in planning where to locate new docks in the future. The problem with boats injuring and killing manatees is not related to boat design, the release of manatees, or where the rehabilitation centers are built. The essence of the problem is that, “Sometimes ideal manatee habitat and ideal boat habitat are one and the same” (lines 52 and 53). Therefore, choices 1, 3, and 4 can be eliminated. 6. The author implies that manatee protection plans ordered by former Governor Bob Martinez have not been effective because those plans (1) (2) (3) (4)
exist in only a few counties. do not mandate boater education. have not been adequately funded. are only for coastal counties.
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CliffsTestPrep Regents English Workbook Correct answer: (1) This is an inference question. The author qualifies the efforts of Governor Bob Martinez by stating, “But a decade later, only four counties—Collier, Dade, Duvall and Citrus—have plans in place . . .” The implication is that more counties need to make the same efforts to create manatee protection plans. Choice 2 is incorrect because the governor did mandate boater education (lines 54-58). Funding is not mentioned in that paragraph, so choice 3 is incorrect. Coastal counties are the targeted area for manatee protection plans; therefore, choice 4 is not relevant. 7. Which group is responsible for successfully using legal means to protect manatee habitats in Florida? (1) (2) (3) (4)
Veterinarians’ associations Tourist bureaus Construction companies Environmental organizations
Correct answer: (4) This is a recall question. Lines 61-63 refer to a lawsuit on the part of a coalition of environmental organizations. The lawsuit “was brought against both agencies in January 2000 by a coalition of environmental groups, including the Save The Manatee Club, the Humane Society of the United States, the Sierra Club, Florida Defenders of the Environment and the International Wildlife Coalition.” 8. The effect of the anecdote about Hurricane and Buffet is to (1) (2) (3) (4)
leave the reader with a positive image. conclude the article with a somber warning. provide students with practical advice. challenge authorities to improve conditions.
Correct answer: (1) This is an analysis question. Lines 68-78 give the reader an endearing description of healthy, friendly manatees that had been saved by the efforts of the staff at Lowry Park Zoo. Therefore, the reader is left with a positive image. The anecdote does not contain somber warnings, practical advice, or challenges to authorities; therefore, the remaining choices are incorrect. 9. According to the table, during what year were deaths due to watercraft collisions the highest? (1) (2) (3) (4)
1987 1990 1999 2001
Correct answer: (3) This is a recall question. By looking at the table, you can see that the largest number of collisions (82) occurred in 1999.
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10. According to the table, the number of dependent calves that died in 1990 was (1) (2) (3) (4)
41. 44. 47. 67.
Correct answer: (2) This is a recall question. By referencing the Definitions of Causes listed below the chart, “Perinatal” is defined as “dependent calves.” In the 1990 column, the number of dependent calves that died in that year was 44.
Essay For this section you must also write a response. Carefully read the Directions, The Situation, Your Task, and Guidelines, as they provide directions and helpful information about the passage. The written response is usually in the following formats: ■ ■ ■
An article A report The body of a letter
Be aware of: ■ ■ ■
Audience (who you’re writing for) Tone (the attitude of your expression) Opinion (whether you are being asked to agree or disagree with an issue)
Include all relevant information from the passage that supports your ideas. In the introductory paragraph, tell why the Florida manatee is endangered. For example, manatees cannot hear the frequency of outboard motors very well; therefore, they often collide with boats (lines 12-14). Boat collisions remain the leading cause of killing and maiming manatees, with 300 killed each year and the scarring of 90 percent of Florida’s manatee population (lines 14 and 15). Lines 16-20 state that, “. . . manatees are also killed or injured when they become entangled in or ingest fishing and crab trap lines, are caught in flood gates and canal locks, or lose habitat to development and pollution. Cold weather also kills many manatees, who are susceptible to pneumonia. According to the Department of Environmental Protection, 175 manatees died between January and June 2001—about one every day.” Currently, there are fewer than 2,000 manatees left in the United States. With the possible exception of the shark, they have no predators, so humans are “responsible for about 30 percent of all manatee deaths” (lines 24 and 25). Another contributing factor in the death of the slow-moving, near-surface swimming manatees is that dark sea grass “camouflages the manatees and makes them practically invisible to approaching boaters” (lines 28 and 29). Remember that you must use information from both the text and the table. Since the table contains data about total manatee mortality in Florida by year and cause, you can use some of those statistics to support the seriousness of the endangered manatee in the first paragraph.
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CliffsTestPrep Regents English Workbook In the main portion of the body, discuss effective methods used to save the Florida manatee. Make reference to the David A. Straz Manatee Hospital and the other federally permitted rehabilitation centers. There are not enough centers and the cost is high, “$30,000 per year per manatee on food alone” (line 35). Summarize the touching case of Cupid and the heroic efforts made in an attempt to save her. Cite the telemetric data (tagging with satellite transmitters), and how it helps determine where manatees can be found. With this data, speed zones can be established, educational programs put in place, and locations of docks can be analyzed. Also, discuss the conflict between “ideal manatee habitat and ideal boat habitat” being “one and the same” (lines 52 and 53). Lines 54-67 are rich with examples of the efforts to save manatees from death and maiming. Cite those efforts to support your discussion of the methods being used. Lastly, recount the story of Hurricane and Buffet, two young manatees at the Lowry Park Zoo (lines 68-79). In the final paragraph, conclude by restating that the manatees are endangered, and the efforts that are being made to help them.
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Reading and Writing for Literary Response In this section, you will read two passages from literature and answer multiple-choice questions about each. They will be excerpts from longer works and shorter, complete works, like poems.
Selection One Directions: Read the passages on the following pages (a poem and an excerpt from a short story). Write the number of the answer to each multiple-choice question on your answer sheet. Then write the essay in your essay booklet as described in Your Task. You may use the margins to take notes as you read and scrap paper to plan your response. Your Task: After you have read the passages and answered the multiple-choice questions, write a unified essay about the nature of work as revealed in the passages. In your essay, use ideas from both passages to establish a controlling idea about the nature of work. Using evidence from each passage, develop your controlling idea and show how the author uses specific literary elements or techniques to convey that idea.
Guidelines Be sure to . . . ■ ■ ■
■ ■ ■
Use ideas from both passages to establish a controlling idea about the nature of work. Use specific and relevant evidence from each passage to develop your controlling idea. Show how each author uses specific literary elements (for example: theme, characterization, structure, point of view) or techniques (for example: symbolism, irony, figurative language) to convey the controlling idea. Organize your ideas in a logical and coherent manner. Use language that communicates ideas effectively. Follow the conventions of standard written English.
Passage I
(5)
He was a manufacturer’s agent in New Orleans and sold printers’ ink. The storeroom where he kept his supplies was in the old city, near the Museum and the old Cathedral. It is delightful to walk in that part of the old city, just as evening comes, when the light is uncertain. I used to see him at work in the dark storehouse under an electric lamp and one evening I went in. He was making a wooden model of an American clipper ship and it was lovely.
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(10)
(15)
(20)
(25)
(30)
I asked him about it. This is the tale he told me. He was fifty-five. His wife was dead and his children were married. He had never been a great success in business. Once he made considerable money—but later. He had got an agency—selling printers’ ink in New Orleans. In his younger years he lived in a Northern city where men hustled more. In New Orleans he could take things easier. Rents were lower. He knew a good many small printers. They bought ink from him. Why not? He sold good ink. The price was all right. One day he was in the Museum where there are a good many rather fine models of old ships. New Orleans is a seafaring town. In the old days of sailing ships a good many sailors used to carve such models of ships during long voyages. In the Museum there was a man from the state university of an interior state. He had come to New Orleans to buy models of old ships but there were none to be found. Nowadays they are picked up by curio dealers who buy them at a high price. The rich want them to put on library shelves above the books. They are no doubt made now in some factory. The man from the interior was puzzled. Could a man be found who would carve from models in the museum a few such ships? The wholesale dealer in ink stepped forward. “I’ll do it,” he said. He had never carved anything but when he was a boy in Philadelphia he spent a great deal of time in the shipping [area]. At night, as a boy, he dreamed of ships. The man seeking ship models asked him how much he would charge. “Thirty dollars each. It will take me a long time. I won’t ask you to pay me anything down. When I have completed the models, if you do not like them, it will be all right.” The whole affair, the old man told me, had been foolish enough. He had never used tools. Books concerning ships had to be bought. His hands had to be trained. When I saw him he was completing the first model that satisfied him. It was the fourth one he had attempted and the first three had been burned. “Will you do others?” I asked. “Surely,” he said. He worked every evening from six until nearly midnight. He had never been so well, so contented. “The whole foolish business has cost me nearly two hundred dollars. It is the only thing I ever did that gave me any real satisfaction,” he said. —Sherwood Anderson, “Note 29,” from Sherwood Anderson’s Notebook (Boni & Liveright, 1926)
Passage II Assembler
(5)
(10)
108
My twentieth summer I got a job in Door Locks at the Ford plant where my father has worked for twenty years. Five in the morning we’d stand tired in the glare and old heat of the kitchen, my father fiddling with the radio dial, looking for a clear station. There weren’t any women in my department. At first the men would ask me to lift what I couldn’t, would speed up the turntable, juggling the greasy washers and bolts, winking at each other, grinning at me.
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Reading and Writing for Literary Response In the break room they would buy me coffee, study my check to see if I got shorted. They were glad I was in school and told me to finish, they said I’d never regret it. Once I got loaned to Air Conditioners, worked three days in a special enclosure, quiet and cool and my hands stayed clean. Out the window I could see Door Locks, the men taking salt pills, 110 degrees.
(15)
(20)
In rest rooms there were women sleeping on orange vinyl couches, oven timers ticking next to their heads. At lunch I’d take the long walk to my father. I’d see him from a distance, wearing safety glasses like mine, and earphones, bright slivers of brass in his hair—him standing alone in strange sulfur light amidst machines the size of small buildings. Every twenty minutes he worked a tumbler, in between he read from his grocery bag of paperbacks. He would pour us coffee from a hidden pot, toast sandwiches on a furnace. We sat on crates, shouting a few things and laughing over the roar and banging of presses.
(25)
(30)
Mostly I remember the back-to-back heat waves, coffee in paper cups that said Safety First, my father and I hurrying away from the time clocks, proud of each other. And my last day, moving shy past their Good Lucks, out into 5:00, shading my eyes.
(35)
—“Assembler” from Walking Distance, by Debra Allbery, ©1991. Reprinted by permission of the University of Pittsburgh Press. Questions 1–5 refer to Passage I. 1. The narrator most probably entered “the dark storehouse” (line 4) in order to (1) (2) (3) (4)
demonstrate courage. examine a ship. purchase ink. satisfy his curiosity.
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CliffsTestPrep Regents English Workbook Correct answer: (4) This is an inference question. Line 4 only states: “I used to see him at work in the dark storehouse under an electric lamp and one evening I went in.” The reader must infer that the writer became curious after seeing the man several times, working at night in a dark storehouse. It is his curiosity about the man and his labor that made the writer finally go into the storehouse. The author mentions that it is, “. . . delightful to walk in that part of the old city . . .” (lines 2 and 3). Therefore, he is not necessarily there to run errands, as postulated by choices 2 and 3, nor is he demonstrating his courage (choice 1). 2. The manufacturer’s agent moved from a Northern city because he preferred New Orleans for its (1) (2) (3) (4)
business climate. coastal location. cheap labor. mild winter.
Correct answer: (1) This is a recall question of factual information that is directly in the text in lines 10-12 and describes the good business climate: “In New Orleans he could take things easier. Rents were lower. He knew a good many small printers. They bought ink from him. Why not? He sold good ink. The price was all right.” 3. The manufacturing agent characterizes his decision to undertake ship carving as “foolish” (line 27) because he (1) (2) (3) (4)
feared failure. disliked the work. lacked experience. hated change.
Correct answer: (3) This is an analysis question. In line 27, the old man describes building model ships as “foolish” but then goes on to give the reasons in lines 27 and 28, which the reader needs to analyze. “The whole affair, the old man told me, had been foolish enough. He had never used tools. Books concerning ships had to be bought. His hands had to be trained.” The shipbuilder was inexperienced with tools, had to buy books about the subject, and had not been trained to work with his hands; therefore, he lacked experience completely. He did not dislike the work; he enjoyed it, nor did he fear failure or hate change. Therefore, the other choices are incorrect. 4. What personal quality does the agent demonstrate by completing the fourth ship? (1) (2) (3) (4)
110
Flexibility Dedication Efficiency Cleverness
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Reading and Writing for Literary Response Correct answer: (2) This is an analysis question. The personal quality of dedication of the agent is revealed after he has failed three times, has burned those models, and finally is satisfied with the fourth model. While choice 1, flexibility, does help the agent complete his task, it is not as strong a choice as 2. It is his dedication that makes him persevere. He is not efficient or clever because he is inexperienced with model ships, so choices 3 and 4 do not apply. 5. What was the agent’s reward for working until midnight each night on his ships? (1) (2) (3) (4)
Fame Fulfillment Profit Knowledge
Correct answer: (2) This is an inference question because although the agent spent almost six hours every night working, he calls his model shipbuilding a “foolish business”; it cost him two hundred dollars, yet it still gave him satisfaction. The inference is that this satisfaction is not financial or good business, but, instead, it is personal fulfillment. The agent gains neither fame nor profit, so choices 1 and 3 are incorrect. Although he does become more knowledgeable about building model ships, his true reward is the sense of fulfillment that he experiences after finally succeeding. Questions 6–10 refer to Passage II. 6. The purpose of lines 1-3 is to introduce a (1) (2) (3) (4)
symbol. rhyme. setting. metaphor.
Correct answer: (3) This question is analysis. Lines 1-3 give a specific location: the Door Locks department of a Ford car assembly plant. When analyzing literature, location is the literary element of setting. A symbol stands for something else, rhyme is when words have similar sounds, and metaphor implies that one thing is another (example: the rainbow is a band of ribbons in the sky). In this case, none of those figurative language terms would apply to the location. 7. The narrator is challenged by her (1) (2) (3) (4)
male coworkers. self-doubt. supervisor. poor work ethic.
Correct answer: (1) This is a recall question. In lines 7-11, the writer states that “There weren’t any women in my department. At first the men would ask me to lift what I couldn’t, would speed up the turntable, juggling the greasy washers and bolts, winking at each other, grinning at me.” The lines tell how her male coworkers taunted her.
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8. The description of the actions of the men in the break room (lines 12 and 13) suggests their (1) (2) (3) (4)
financial inexperience. concerned attitude. job satisfaction. unfriendly personalities.
Correct answer: (2) This is an analysis question. Lines 12 and 13 describe the actions of the men in the break room. “In the break room they would buy me coffee, study my check to see if I got shorted.” Upon analysis, these actions suggest concern because they treat her to coffee, as if she may not be able to afford it, and they examine her check to make sure she is getting paid properly. Choices 1 and 4 are incorrect because the men are neither financially inexperienced nor unfriendly. Choice 3 is not demonstrated by their actions. 9. In lines 16-20, the nature of the work done in Door Locks is established through the use of (1) (2) (3) (4)
personification. chronology. simile. contrast.
Correct answer: (4) This is an analysis question. In lines 16-20, the kind of work done in Door Locks is contrasted directly to the Air Conditioners department. “Once I got loaned to Air Conditioners, worked three days in a special enclosure, quiet and cool and my hands stayed clean. Out the window I could see Door Locks, the men taking salt pills, 110 degrees.” In Air Conditioners, it was cool and quiet. The work wasn’t dirty, and, as a result, her hands stayed clean. This is a contrast to the grimy, hot work in Door Locks where workers are sweating so much in the 110 degree temperature that they have to take salt pills to compensate for the amount of salt loss in their bodies. Choice 1, personification, is when human qualities are given to non-human things. This figurative language is not used. While working in two different places, to some degree, establishes a chronology (timeline), it is not relevant to the significance of those two differing jobs. Simile is a stated comparison between unlike things. This figurative language is not used either. 10. Lines 24-30 are used to emphasize the (1) (2) (3) (4)
alienation of the daughter. value of reading. isolation of the father. variety of equipment
Correct answer: (3) This is an analysis question. The reader must analyze what is described in lines 24-30. “At lunch I’d take the long walk to my father. I’d see him from a distance, wearing safety glasses like mine, and earphones, bright slivers of brass in his hair—him standing alone in strange sulfur light
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Reading and Writing for Literary Response amidst machines the size of small buildings. Every twenty minutes he worked a tumbler, in between he read from his grocery bag of paperbacks.” The father is alone, wearing earphones, and reading paperbacks. Upon analysis, these are all aspects of isolation because they are solitary acts that do not require the company of others. The description is about the father, not the daughter; therefore, choice 1 is incorrect. There are no points made about the value of reading, so choice 2 is incorrect also. The description is about the significance of the actions of the father, not the equipment that surrounds him. In Part A of Session Two, you are required to write an essay analyzing the two passages utilizing the concept of the “controlling idea.” A controlling idea is a shared idea between the two works that expresses a similar theme or notion. Then you use examples (proofs) from each work that exemplify the controlling idea. For each work, you must give a literary element that can include the following examples but is not limited to these terms: ■
Setting
■
Characterization Plot Point of view Theme Symbolism
■ ■ ■ ■
Any literary device or figurative language term is acceptable if used correctly in the context of the works. Also, you may use the same literary term for both works. The controlling idea is revealed in the Your Task description and Guidelines.
Controlling Idea Essay Outline Introductory Paragraph 1: Provide and develop the controlling idea and make reference to the two passages and authors. Body Paragraphs 2 and 3: Give examples (proofs) from each passage that refer to the nature of work in a separate paragraph for each passage. Concluding Paragraph 4: Restate information. The introductory paragraph further develops the controlling idea about work that is described in the Your Task description. Both passages deal with the nature of work and how it affects people. Passage I, by Sherwood Anderson, tells of a manufacturing agent whose hobby of building model ships gives him more satisfaction than his job selling printers’ ink. In Passage II, by Debra Allbery, a woman works in the “man’s world” of car assembly with her father. She learns what a difficult environment it is.
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CliffsTestPrep Regents English Workbook The body contains specific references to the passages regarding the nature of work and its effect. A literary element must be used for each passage. In the first paragraph of the body, discuss Passage I; an appropriate literary element would be point of view. The author writes in the first person as the narrator and observes the manufacturing agent practicing his avocation, model shipbuilding. It is the curiosity of the observer that reveals that the man gets more satisfaction from making those ships, even though he is failing at it and losing money, than at his regular job. This is an important theme because it demonstrates that work is not only about earning a living, but it is about self-fulfillment, personal gratification, and pride as well. In the second paragraph, Passage II can be addressed. You may use the same literary element for both works. Point of view is effective here, too, because the worker is actually the narrator, a twenty-year-old college student who is a woman. The reader directly sees her experience as an assembler at a car plant where all of her coworkers are men. This is an important point because it demonstrates the cruelties of the men as they ask her to lift heavy objects, and she gets her hands dirty. However, this is contrasted by their kindness in giving her coffee and making sure she is getting paid properly. Also, she has a new respect and admiration for her father who endures these difficult conditions. The reader also sees how he has his simple pleasures on the job that are unrelated to work, like reading paperbacks, drinking coffee, and eating sandwiches. This is similar to the first passage, where the man derives satisfaction from something unrelated to work. In the concluding paragraph, a comparison between the two passages and the nature of work provides a summation of the situations and main ideas. In Passage I, the man is not fulfilled by his job as a manufacturing agent but, rather, by building model ships. This shows that satisfaction with one’s efforts can be more important than even the results or the lack of financial reward. In Passage II, the narrator learns that the world of work at a manufacturing plant can be difficult and cruel. She respects her father for his strength, and they are proud of each other with each day that they get through. On her last day, there is a sense of relief that she will not have to return and, instead, will go back to complete her schooling at college.
Selection Two Directions: Read the passages on the following pages (an essay and an excerpt from a novel). Write the number of the answer to each multiple-choice question on your answer sheet. Then write the essay in your essay booklet as described in Your Task. You may use the margins to take notes as you read and scrap paper to plan your response. Your Task: After you have read the passages and answered the multiple-choice questions, write a unified essay about a childhood place as revealed in the passages. In your essay, use ideas from both passages to establish a controlling idea about a childhood place. Using evidence from each passage, develop your controlling idea and show how the author uses specific literary elements or techniques to convey that idea.
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Guidelines Be sure to . . . ■ ■ ■
■ ■ ■
Use ideas from both passages to establish a controlling idea about a childhood place. Use specific and relevant evidence from each passage to develop your controlling idea. Show how each author uses specific literary elements (for example: theme, characterization, structure, point of view) or techniques (for example: symbolism, irony, figurative language) to convey the controlling idea. Organize your ideas in a logical and coherent manner. Use language that communicates ideas effectively. Follow the conventions of standard written English.
Passage I
(5)
(10)
(15)
(20)
(25)
I am a displaced person. I sit here on a swing on the deck of my house in Northern California admiring how the fog has turned the valley below into a lake. For hours nothing will be visible below me except this large expanse of vapor; then slowly, as the sun rises and gains in intensity, the fog will start to curl up and begin its slow rolling drift toward the ocean. People here call it the dragon; and, indeed, a dragon is what it looks like, puffing and coiling, winged, flaring and in places thin and discreet, as it races before the sun, back to its ocean coast den. Mornings I sit here in awe and great peace. The mountains across the valley come and go in the mist; the redwoods and firs, oaks and giant bays appear as clumpish spires, enigmatic shapes of green, like the stone forests one sees in Chinese paintings of Guilin. It is incredibly beautiful where I live. Not fancy at all, or exclusive. But from where I sit on my deck I can look down on the backs of hawks, and the wide, satiny wings of turkey vultures glistening in the sun become my present connection to ancient Egyptian Africa. The pond is so still below me that the trees reflected in it seem, from this distance, to be painted in its depths. All this: the beauty, the quiet, the cleanliness, the peace, is what I love. I realize how lucky I am to have found it here. And yet, there are days when my view of the mountains and redwoods makes me nostalgic for small rounded hills easily walked over, and for the look of big leaf poplar and the scent of pine. I am nostalgic for the land of my birth, the land I left forever when I was thirteen—moving first to the town of Eatonton, and then, at seventeen, to the city of Atlanta. I cried one day as I talked to a friend about a tree I loved as a child. A tree that had sheltered my father on his long cold walk to school each morning: it was midway between his house and the school and because there was a large cavity in its trunk, a fire could be made inside it. During my childhood, in a tiny, overcrowded house in a tiny dell below it, I looked up at it frequently and felt reassured by its age, its generosity despite its years of brutalization (the fires, I knew, had to hurt), and its tall, old-growth pine nobility. When it was struck by lightning and killed, and then was cut down and made into firewood, I grieved as if it had been a person. Secretly. Because who among the members of my family would not have laughed at my grief?
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I have felt entirely fortunate to have had this companion, and even today remember it with gratitude. But why the tears? my friend wanted to know. And it suddenly dawned on me that perhaps it was sad that it was a tree and not a member of my family to whom I was so emotionally close. As a child I assumed I would always have the middle Georgia landscape to live in, as Brer Rabbit, a native also, and relative, had his brier patch. It was not to be. The pain of racist oppression, and its consequence, economic impoverishment, drove me to the four corners of the earth in search of justice and peace, and work that affirmed my whole being. I have come to rest here, weary from travel, on a deck—not a southern front porch—overlooking another world. I am content; and yet, I wonder what my life would have been like if I had been able to stay home? I remember early morning fogs in Georgia, not so dramatic as California ones, but magical too because out of the Southern fog of memory tramps my dark father, smiling and large, glowing with rootedness, and talking of hound dogs, biscuits and coons. And my equally rooted mother bustles around the corner of our house preparing to start a wash, the fire under the black wash pot extending a circle of warmth in which I, a grave-eyed child, stand. There is my sister Ruth, beautiful to me and dressed elegantly for high school in gray felt skirt and rhinestone brooch, hurrying up the road to catch the yellow school bus which glows like a large glow worm in the early morning fog. . . . —“My Heart has Reopened to You” from Her Blue Body Everything We Know: Earthling Poems 1965-1990 Complete, ©1991 by Alice Walker, reprinted by permission of Harcourt, Inc.
Passage II
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. . . The scenes of the farm were not as fantastic to John as he’d hoped they would be. The barn, its neat white trim picked out by moonlight, still looked obstinately like the barn, and the nocturnal knockings of the horses within were familiar, flat, and uninteresting. He could make of the manure pile no shapes or ghouls. It looked exactly like the manure pile that bulked so large in his daily activities. The air, though, clear and now cool, bearing the sweet, alluring scent of clover, invigorated him, and when he rounded the corner of the orchard, the way the pasture lay thick as fur fitted his sense of what this adventure, this first night abroad, ever, should be. The farm buildings sat on a hill embraced by the wide curve of a large creek. The two barns on one side and the white house and old orchard on the other formed a rectangle bisected by the gravel driveway. Fanning away from the central compound were fenced paddocks, stands of trees, and outbuildings for the storage of machinery. A couple housed straight stalls for horse shows and winter use. John had lived nowhere but the farm, and the nights he had spent away, at horse shows or with relatives, were so few that each remained discrete and pristine in his memory. Visits to cousins, one family in Cleveland and the other in Baltimore, had been arrestingly exotic: lawns instead of fields, afternoons among teeming strangers at giant public swimming pools, late nights of jokes, giggles, and the danger of lighting matches under the bedclothes. Once, with his cousin Fred, he had sneaked out the bedroom window, then tiptoed around the house to spy on the grownups. Most exotic of all, there had been no horses. An undulating apron of ground spread green-black and silver to the woods below. Mares and foals, feeling safety in the peace of the weather, were scattered over the lower third of the hillside, lying down or resting in the hammocks of their own joints. From where John stood, they all looked
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black, but when a head turned or a leg moved, bright white floated on the moonlight. This was more like it. The idea of night rambles about the farm had seemed spectacularly deviant to him, as if his daily resentments gestated something criminal, but now, actually out here, with his body clattering inside his clothes and his quietest cough like slamming doors, he felt delightfully orphaned and mute, about to discover something, anything, even though there was nothing he didn’t know already about the farm. . . . He came to the creek, where he had learned to swim (five strokes, walk across the gravel bar, seven more strokes, turn around). Every summer the four children exhausted its possibilities by the last week of school, but now, as John stood on the slippery bank, drawn there by the dappling of light through the trees, he drew in his breath, as if something were about to happen. By day you could see the gravel streambed through two or three feet of clear water. Water spiders skated and dragonflies hovered and minnows skittered in your peripheral vision. By night (off to his left, and then to his right, bullfrogs splashed into the water) the pool was black; he could not see at all, but this betokened everything rather than nothing. He squatted down and stuck his hand in, half expecting to pull out a dripping wad of life itself. The water was cold and fine, delicious to his skin. John laughed aloud and at once forgave the farm for being so familiar. Anything seemed possible at night. In the water at his feet, for example, he sensed not just minnows and frogs, but bass and trout and crawdads and river clams and water snakes (he stepped back). In the woods surrounding there were surely mice, rabbits, and moles, but why not woodchucks and badgers, opossums and raccoons, even deer? Among the leafy limbs and hollows of trees (boxelder, white ash, sugar maple, walnut, white and red and pin oak, elm and hickory, sycamore and poplar) there must be orioles and woodpeckers and bluebirds and jays and cardinals as well as sparrows, wrens, and robins. Owls and bats would be gazing upon him right this very moment. He paused, listening, and shivered blissfully. For an instant he could see it all, the densely inhabited earth and the thick stars, ready and waiting to be catalogued. . . . —from pp. 2-4 from Barn Blind by Jane Smiley, ©1980 by Jane Graves Smiley. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers.
Questions 1–5 refer to Passage I. 1. What sensation triggers the author’s memory of a childhood place? (1) (2) (3) (4)
Looking at a Chinese painting of forests Hearing sounds from the valley below Smelling the ocean on the breeze Viewing the landscape near her present home
Correct answer: (4) This is an analysis question. In lines 1-19, the author uses imagery (words that appeal to the senses) to describe the surroundings of her home. The reader can determine that it is this view that triggers her memory of a childhood place. Choice 1 is incorrect because viewing the landscape near her home reminds her of the painting. She is not, literally, looking at the painting. The author refers to the peace and quiet of her surroundings, so sounds are not the sensations that trigger her memory; therefore, choice 2 is incorrect. The only fragrance that is referenced is the “scent of pine,” so choice 3 is not relevant.
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2. The author describes the tree near her childhood home as a (1) (2) (3) (4)
mischievous playmate. casual acquaintance. kind protector. stern teacher.
Correct answer: (3) This is an analysis question. Lines 20 and 21 state that the tree “had sheltered my father on his long cold walk to school each morning.” Also, she writes in lines 22-24 that “there was a large cavity in its trunk, a fire could be made inside it. During my childhood, in a tiny, overcrowded house in a tiny dell below it, I looked up at it frequently and felt reassured by its age, its generosity . . .” These characterizations of the tree show it to be a protector. The tree is not described as a playmate, acquaintance, or teacher, so all other choices are incorrect. 3. When Alice Walker compares herself to Brer Rabbit, hero of a southern folktale, she is using the literary device known as (1) (2) (3) (4)
allusion. euphemism. foreshadowing. onomatopoeia.
Correct answer: (1) This is a vocabulary question. In order to choose the correct answer, one must know that allusion is the literary term for referring to another literary work or story. Euphemism is when something is said in a more agreeable or milder fashion. For example, instead of saying that someone died, it could be said that they passed away. Foreshadowing is when the author gives hints as to what is going to happen. Onomatopoeia is when the sound of the word suggests its meaning, like “buzz” or “boom.” 4. The author states that she left middle Georgia because of (1) (2) (3) (4)
religious intolerance. racial prejudice. gender bias. physical abuse.
Correct answer: (2) This is a recall question. In lines 32-34, the author states, “The pain of racist oppression, and its consequence, economic impoverishment, drove me to the four corners of the earth in search of justice and peace, and work that affirmed my whole being.”
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5. An image that connects the beginning and the end of the essay is that of the (1) (2) (3) (4)
sun. lake. fog. road.
Correct answer: (3) This is a recall question. Fog is mentioned in line 2 and again as the very last word in line 44. Questions 6–10 refer to Passage II. 6. At first John finds the scene of the farm at night (1) (2) (3) (4)
disappointing. exciting. attractive. frightening.
Correct answer: (1) This is an analysis question. The first line states that “The scenes of the farm were not as fantastic to John as he’d hoped they would be.” It’s more than recall because the reader must interpret “not as fantastic” to mean disappointing. The other choices are more powerful descriptions of the scene that might be considered fantastic; therefore, they are incorrect. 7. The farm in the passage primarily raises (1) (2) (3) (4)
cows. horses. vegetables. chickens.
Correct answer: (2) This is an analysis question. Horses are mentioned in line 3. In addition, there are two references to horse shows, one in line 11 and the other in line 12. In line 17, the absence of horses where his cousins live is referred to as “most exotic of all.” This would indicate that the presence of horses where John lives is a constant. The other choices are not referenced in the passage. 8. The author introduces “Visits to cousins” (line 13) in order to (1) (2) (3) (4)
introduce a symbol. provide a motive. complicate the plot. create a contrast.
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CliffsTestPrep Regents English Workbook Correct answer: (4) This is a recall question. Visits to his cousins in Cleveland and Baltimore are described as “arrestingly exotic” (different). They had “lawns instead of fields, afternoons among teeming strangers at giant public swimming pools, late nights of jokes, giggles, and the danger of lighting matches under the bedclothes” (lines 14-16). Also, “there had been no horses” there (line 18). These descriptions emphasize the contrast between John’s home and where his cousins live. 9. The author uses a simile in lines 23-25 to emphasize the night’s (1) (2) (3) (4)
silence. coldness. darkness. smells.
Correct answer: (1) This is an analysis question; however, it is built upon knowing that a simile is a stated comparison between two different things connected by “like” or “as.” In line 25, his “quietest cough” is compared to the noise of “slamming doors” when it is heard in the silence of the night. Therefore, the simile emphasizes silence. The simile involves sounds, not temperatures, light conditions, or odors, so the other choices are incorrect. 10. At the end of the passage, John imagines (1) (2) (3) (4)
city trips. other farms. many creatures. his cousins.
Correct answer: (3) This is a recall question. Line 37 states that “Anything seemed possible at night.” John goes on to think “but why not . . .” and then lists many creatures, in the remaining lines, that he imagines to be there. In Part A of Session Two, you are required to write an essay analyzing the two passages utilizing the concept of the “controlling idea.” A controlling idea is a shared idea between the two works that expresses a similar theme or notion. Then you use examples (proofs) from each work that exemplify the controlling idea. For each work, you must give a literary element that can include the following examples but is not limited to these terms: ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
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Setting Characterization Plot Point of view Theme Symbolism
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Reading and Writing for Literary Response Any literary device or figurative language term is acceptable if used correctly in the context of the works. Also, you may use the same literary term for both works. The controlling idea is revealed in the Your Task description and Guidelines.
Controlling Idea Essay Outline Introductory Paragraph 1: Provide and develop the controlling idea and make reference to the two passages and authors. Body Paragraphs 2 and 3: Give examples (proofs) from each passage that refer to the significance of a childhood place. Concluding Paragraph 4: Restate information. The introductory paragraph further develops the controlling idea about the significance of a childhood place. Both passages deal with the authors’ perceptions about such a place. In Passage I, by Alice Walker, she begins by saying she’s a “displaced person.” Although she lives in an “incredibly beautiful” place in California and considers herself lucky to have it, she feels nostalgic (homesick or sentimental) for the “land of my birth,” Georgia. The literary element of irony would be good to use for this work because she longs for a place that is not as beautiful as the place in which she lives currently. Also, since the passage is written in the first-person point of view, with the main character as the narrator, point of view would be a strong literary element to consider. Passage II, by Jane Smiley, is similar to the first passage because John longs for something different. The passage starts with “. . . the scenes of the farm were not as fantastic to John as he’d hoped they would be.” An applicable literary element for this piece would be setting because the theme of the story is directly linked to the farm and what John thinks about it. In your first paragraph, you have established and developed the controlling idea about the significance of a childhood place, named the authors, introduced literary elements, and stated the point of view of both main characters. The body contains specific references as to how the characters are affected by their surroundings. In the first passage, the main character has a memory of a childhood place as she observes her current environment. The image of fog connects these two locations. It prompts her to think about a tree that was near the home of her childhood. She states that the tree “sheltered my father on his long cold walk to school each morning.” In lines 22-24, she describes it in more detail: “. . . there was a large cavity in its trunk, a fire could be made inside it. During my childhood, in a tiny, overcrowded house in a tiny dell below it, I looked up at it frequently and felt reassured by its age, its generosity . . .” In this portion of the essay, include more examples of her rich description of the place of her childhood, including the allusion to the folklore character, Brer Rabbit. Another important element is the racism that affected her as a child in Georgia. Remember, you are supporting the controlling idea about the significance of a childhood place, for better or worse. In Passage II, the main character, John, is disappointed at the sight of the farm at night. The literary element of characterization portrays him as dissatisfied with his life on the farm. In contrast to that, he is more excited about his visits to his cousins in Cleveland and Baltimore, as shown in lines 13-18: “Visits
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CliffsTestPrep Regents English Workbook to cousins, one family in Cleveland and the other in Baltimore, had been arrestingly exotic: lawns instead of fields, afternoons among teeming strangers at giant public swimming pools, late nights of jokes, giggles, and the danger of lighting matches under the bedclothes. Once, with his cousin Fred, he had sneaked out the bedroom window, then tiptoed around the house to spy on the grownups. Most exotic of all, there had been no horses.” What saves John from the less-than-fantastic farm is his own imagination, as shown in lines 37-45. When he realizes that “anything seemed possible at night,” he is then free to imagine a whole other world populated by all sorts of creatures. Although the first passage is a woman whose perception of the present triggers a nostalgic memory of the past, and the second passage is a boy observing the present, essentially, they both deal with the controlling idea about a childhood place and its effect on an individual.
Selection Three Directions: Read the passages on the following pages (an excerpt from a short story and a poem). Write the number of the answer to each multiple-choice question on your answer sheet. Then write the essay in your essay booklet as described in Your Task. You may use the margins to take notes as you read and scrap paper to plan your response. Your Task: After you have read the passages and answered the multiple-choice questions, write a unified essay about opportunities for learning as revealed in the passages. In your essay, use ideas from both passages to establish a controlling idea about opportunities for learning. Using evidence from each passage, develop your controlling idea and show how the author uses specific literary elements or techniques to convey that idea.
Guidelines Be sure to . . . ■ ■ ■
■ ■ ■
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Use ideas from both passages to establish a controlling idea about opportunities for learning. Use specific and relevant evidence from each passage to develop your controlling idea. Show how each author uses specific literary elements (for example: theme, characterization, structure, point of view) or techniques (for example: symbolism, irony, figurative language) to convey the controlling idea. Organize your ideas in a logical and coherent manner. Use language that communicates ideas effectively. Follow the conventions of standard written English.
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Passage I
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I was very late for school that morning, and I was terribly afraid of being scolded, especially as Monsieur Hamel had told us that he should examine us on participles, and I did not know the first thing about them. For a moment I thought of staying away from school and wandering about the fields. It was such a warm, lovely day. I could hear the blackbirds whistling on the edge of the wood, and in the Rippert field, behind the sawmill, the Prussians going through their drill. All that was much more tempting to me than the rules concerning participles; but I had the strength to resist, and I ran as fast as I could to school. As I passed the mayor’s office, I saw that there were people gathered about the little board on which notices were posted. For two years all our bad news had come from that board—battles lost, conscriptions, orders from headquarters; and I thought without stopping: “What can it be now?” Then, as I ran across the square, Wachter the blacksmith, who stood there with his apprentice, reading the placard, called out to me: “Don’t hurry so, my boy; you’ll get to your school soon enough!” I thought that he was making fun of me, and I ran into Monsieur Hamel’s little yard all out of breath. Usually, at the beginning of school, there was a great uproar which could be heard in the street, desks opening and closing, lessons repeated aloud in unison, with our ears stuffed in order to learn quicker, and the teacher’s stout ruler beating on the desk: “A little more quiet!” I counted on all this noise to reach my bench unnoticed; but as it happened, that day everything was quiet, like a Sunday morning. Through the open window I saw my comrades already in their places, and Monsieur Hamel walking back and forth with the terrible iron ruler under his arm. I had to open the door and enter, in the midst of that perfect silence. You can imagine whether I blushed and whether I was afraid! But no! Monsieur Hamel looked at me with no sign of anger and said very gently: “Go at once to your seat, my little Frantz; we were going to begin without you.” I stepped over the bench and sat down at once at my desk. Not until then, when I partly recovered from my fright, did I notice that our teacher had on his handsome blue coat, his plaited ruff, and the black silk embroidered breeches, which he wore only on days of inspection or of distribution of prizes. Moreover, there was something extraordinary, something solemn about the whole class. But what surprised me most was to see at the back of the room, on the benches which were usually empty, some people from the village sitting, as silent as we were: old Hauser with his three-cornered hat, the ex-mayor, the ex-postman, and others besides. They all seemed depressed; and Hauser had brought an old spellingbook with gnawed edges, which he held wide-open on his knee, with his great spectacles askew. While I was wondering at all this, Monsieur Hamel had mounted his platform, and in the same gentle and serious voice with which he had welcomed me, he said to us: “My children, this is the last time that I shall teach you. Orders have come from Berlin to teach nothing but German in the schools of Alsace and Lorraine. The new teacher arrives to-morrow. This is the last class in French, so I beg you to be very attentive.” Those few words overwhelmed me. Ah! the villains! that was what they had posted at the mayor’s office. My last class in French! And I barely knew how to write! So I should never learn! I must stop short where I was! How angry I was with myself because of the time I had wasted, the lessons I had missed, running about after nests, or sliding on the Saar! My books, which only a moment before I thought so tiresome, so heavy to carry—my grammar, my sacred history—seemed to me now like old friends, from whom I should be terribly grieved to part. And it was the same about Monsieur Hamel. The thought that he was going away, that I should never see him again, made me forget the punishments, the blows with the ruler. Poor man! It was in honour of that last lesson that he had put
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on his fine Sunday clothes; and I understood now why those old fellows from the village were sitting at the end of the room. It seemed to mean that they regretted not having come oftener to the school. It was also a way of thanking our teacher for his forty years of faithful service, and of paying their respects to the fatherland which was vanishing. . . . —Alphonse Daudet, from “The Last Class—The Story of a Little Alsatian,” from Little French Masterpieces (G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1903)
Passage II Morning Glory
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The faces of the teachers know we have failed and failed yet they focus beyond, on the windowsill the names of distant galaxies and trees. We have come in dragging. If someone would give us a needle and thread, or send us on a mission to collect something at a store, we could walk for twenty years sorting it out. How do we open, when we are so full? The teachers have more faith than we do. They have organized into units. We would appreciate units if we gave them a chance. Nothing will ever again be so clear. The teachers look at our papers when they would rather be looking at a fine scallop of bark or their fathers and mothers thin as lace, their own teachers remaining in front of a class at the back of their minds. So many seasons of rain, sun, wind have crystallized their teachers. They shine like something on a beach. But we don’t see that yet. We’re fat with binders and forgetting. We’re shaping the name of a new love on the underside of our thumb. We’re diagnosing rumor and trouble
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Reading and Writing for Literary Response and fear. We hear the teachers as if they were far off, speaking down a tube. Sometimes a whole sentence gets through.
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But the teachers don’t give up. They rise, dress, appear before us crisp and hopeful. They have a plan. If cranes can fly 1,000 miles or that hummingbird return from Mexico to find, curled on its crooked fence, a new vine, surely. We may dip into the sweet together, if we hover long enough.
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—Naomi Shihab Nye, “Morning Glory” from Fuel. ©1998 by Naomi Shihab Nye. Reprinted with the permission of BOA Editions, Ltd., www.BOAEditions.org. Questions 1–4 refer to Passage I. 1. When Frantz is introduced in the first paragraph, his most prominent characteristic is his (1) (2) (3) (4)
ability in athletics. love of learning. fear of punishment. knowledge about nature.
Correct answer: (3) This is a recall question. In the first line, Frantz states, “I was terribly afraid of being scolded.” Therefore, he fears punishment. 2. When he gets to school, Frantz first realizes that something is different when he is (1) (2) (3) (4)
made to stand alone. greeted with silence. praised by Monsieur Hamel. escorted to his desk.
Correct answer: (2) This is a recall question. In lines 14-16, Frantz describes how “Usually, at the beginning of school, there was a great uproar which could be heard in the street, desks opening and closing, lessons repeated aloud in unison, with our ears stuffed in order to learn quicker, and the teacher’s stout ruler beating on the desk . . .” In lines 16-18, he describes how it actually was, “I counted on all this noise to reach my bench unnoticed; but as it happened, that day everything was quiet, like a Sunday morning.”
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3. Monsieur Hamel’s attire and the presence of the people in the back of the classroom reinforce the (1) (2) (3) (4)
significance of the day. content of the lesson. need of attention. atmosphere of celebration.
Correct answer: (1) This is an analysis question. In lines 23-26, there is a description of Monsieur Hamel’s attire: “Not until then, when I partly recovered from my fright, did I notice that our teacher had on his handsome blue coat, his plaited ruff, and the black silk embroidered breeches, which he wore only on days of inspection or of distribution of prizes.” Upon analysis, it is understood that the teacher only dresses this way on a day of significance like a day of inspection or when prizes are distributed. Choice 2 is not reflected in the passage. While choice 3 is referenced in lines 35 and 36, when Monsieur Harnel states, “. . . I beg you to be very attentive . . .”, it is only a condition of the special announcement to follow. Choice 4 is related to the “distribution of prizes” that is associated with Monsieur Harnel’s special attire. However, the true reason for his appearance is revealed in line 35, when he says, “The new teacher arrives to-morrow. This is the last class in French . . .” 4. What does Frantz conclude from the news that Monsieur Hamel is leaving? (1) (2) (3) (4)
Frantz will no longer be punished. Frantz has used too much time studying. Frantz will not be allowed back in school. Frantz has a new perspective on school.
Correct answer: (4) This is an analysis question. A conclusion is based on an analysis of the information. In lines 39-44, Frantz regrets the time he has wasted and his lack of effort while he did have Monsieur Hamel as a teacher. Now that his teacher is leaving, the opportunities are lost. The other choices are not supported by the passage. Questions 5–10 refer to Passage II. 5. According to the poet, a characteristic displayed by teachers is (1) (2) (3) (4)
happiness. pessimism. determination. inattention.
Correct answer: (3) This is a recall question. In stanzas one, three, four, and six, the poet states aspects of determination. In stanza one, the teachers “focus beyond” the failures of their students. Stanza three tells how “The teachers have more faith than we do.” In stanza four, “The teachers look at our papers . . .” and “They shine like something on a beach.” In stanza six, “But the teachers don’t give up. They rise, dress, appear before us crisp and hopeful. They have a plan.”
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6. The word “dragging” (line 6) suggests that the students are (1) (2) (3) (4)
reluctant. afraid. angry. disgusted.
Correct answer: (1) This is an inference question. The literal, denotative definition (from the dictionary) of dragging simply means to pull heavily or slowly. However, the connotative or figurative sense of the word is that students are reluctant to learn. While the other choices may represent specific aspects of reluctance, they can all be incorporated into the general definition of that term, as expressed in choice 1. 7. The poet uses the word “open” (line 11) to indicate becoming (1) (2) (3) (4)
eligible. receptive. employable. satisfied.
Correct answer: (2) This is an inference question. While the literal meaning of open is quite common, as in the door is open, the figurative sense of the word is that students can become receptive to learning from their teachers, as in open to new ideas. The remaining choices do not express that figurative sense. 8. According to the poet, teachers in the classroom model their educational practices on (1) (2) (3) (4)
recent studies. their best students. their former teachers. scientific theories.
Correct answer: (3) This is a recall question. In lines 22 and 23, the poet states, “their own teachers remaining in front of a class at the back of their minds.” “Their” refers to the teachers, and they are thinking about the teachers that they had when they were students. 9. Lines 28-32 are used to present examples of things that (1) (2) (3) (4)
are a basis for lessons. keep students in school. cause sibling rivalry. distract students from learning.
Correct answer: (4) This is an analysis question. Lines 28-32 describe things that distract students, like binders of information that are forgotten; thoughts of a new love; and rumors, troubles, and fears. These things are not a basis for lessons, nor do they keep students in school, as described in choices 1 and 2. They may cause sibling rivalry, as expressed in choice 3, but that is not specifically supported by the poem.
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10. The poet mentions the experience of cranes (line 39) and the hummingbird (line 40) to reinforce the theme that (1) (2) (3) (4)
persistence will produce results. travel will enhance learning. sweetness will improve the environment. friendship will promote love.
Correct answer: (1) This is a summarization question. The theme of the poem is that persistence achieves results. If cranes can fly 1,000 miles or a hummingbird return all the way from Mexico, then the persistence of teachers and students can also produce results. Choice 2 is a literal understanding of traveling and doesn’t express the figurative sense of going great distances to achieve success, so it is incorrect. Choices 3 and 4 are not supported by the poem. In Part A of Session Two, you are required to write an essay analyzing the two passages utilizing the concept of the “controlling idea.” A controlling idea is a shared idea between the two works that expresses a similar theme or notion. Then you use examples (proofs) from each work that exemplify the controlling idea. For each work, you must give a literary element that can include the following examples but is not limited to these terms: ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
Setting Characterization Plot Point of view Theme Symbolism
Any literary device or figurative language term is acceptable if used correctly in the context of the works. Also, you may use the same literary term for both works. The controlling idea is revealed in the Your Task description and Guidelines.
Controlling Idea Essay Outline Introductory Paragraph 1: Provide and develop the controlling idea and make reference to the two passages and authors. Body Paragraphs 2 and 3: Give examples (proofs) from each passage that refer to opportunities for learning in a separate paragraph for each passage. Concluding Paragraph 4: Restate information. The introductory paragraph further develops the controlling idea about opportunities for learning. Both passages deal with the opportunities for learning and how they affect students and teachers. In Passage I, by Alphonse Daudet, a student expresses his regrets about missing the opportunity to learn from a good teacher who now has to leave. The student is named Frantz, and the teacher is Monsieur Hamel. Passage
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Reading and Writing for Literary Response II, by Naomi Shihab Nye, is also about students who have missed opportunities to learn, even though the teachers are hard working and dedicated. The poet regrets it, too. In your first paragraph, you have established and developed the controlling idea about missed opportunities for learning, named some of the main characters, and the authors. The body contains specific references to the passages regarding these regrets and the effect they have on the students. A literary element must be used for each passage. For the first passage, point of view would be an excellent choice because a student named Frantz, who is the narrator, tells the story. Go through the story and cite examples (proofs) that support the themes of the kindness and diligence of the teacher and the regret of the student. For example, even though the student is late for class, the response of Monsieur Hamel is gentle. “Monsieur Hamel looked at me with no sign of anger and said very gently: ‘Go at once to your seat, my little Frantz; we were going to begin without you.”’ The teacher is described as having a gentle voice and giving “his forty years of faithful service, and of paying their respects to the fatherland.” Frantz’s regrets are expressed in lines 38-44. He barely knew how to write, he wasted time, he didn’t want to part with his books that he once thought to be a burden, and he would miss his teacher. Passage II shares the same controlling idea of the opportunity for learning. Also, it tells of the kindness and diligence of teachers and the regret of a student. In stanzas one, three, four, and six, the poet describes attributes of teachers. In stanza one, the teachers “focus beyond” the failures of their students. Stanza three tells how “The teachers have more faith than we do.” In stanza four, “The teachers look at our papers . . .” and “They shine like something on a beach.” In stanza six, “But the teachers don’t give up. They rise, dress, appear before us crisp and hopeful. They have a plan.” The students have not made the most of the opportunity for learning as described by the poet: “. . . we have failed and failed . . . we have come in dragging.” The students have not given the teachers a chance, as described in lines 15-17. Include the distractions of the students as revealed in lines 28-35 and how that prevented them from learning. Symbolism is an effective literary element to use for poetry because poems usually have a figurative sense, where the words go beyond the literal (or actual) and take on another meaning. In the second passage when the poet describes the magnificent effort of cranes flying 1,000 miles and hummingbirds returning from Mexico, it isn’t just descriptions of birds. They are symbols for the kind of effort that students should make to take the fullest advantage of the opportunity to learn.
Selection Four Directions: Read the passages on the following pages (a poem and an excerpt from a memoir). Write the number of the answer to each multiple-choice question on your answer sheet. Then write the essay in your essay booklet as described in Your Task. You may use the margins to take notes as you read and scrap paper to plan your response. Your Task: After you have read the passages and answered the multiple-choice questions, write a unified essay about the influence of grandmothers as revealed in the passages. In your essay, use ideas from both passages to establish a controlling idea about the influence of grandmothers. Using evidence from each passage, develop your controlling idea and show how the author uses specific literary elements or techniques to convey that idea.
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Guidelines Be sure to . . . ■ ■ ■
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Use ideas from both passages to establish a controlling idea about the influence of grandmothers. Use specific and relevant evidence from each passage to develop your controlling idea. Show how each author uses specific literary elements (for example: theme, characterization, structure, point of view) or techniques (for example: symbolism, irony, figurative language) to convey the controlling idea. Organize your ideas in a logical and coherent manner. Use language that communicates ideas effectively. Follow the conventions of standard written English.
Passage I Lineage
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My grandmothers were strong. They followed plows and bent to toil. They moved through fields sowing seed. They touched earth and grain grew. They were full of sturdiness and singing. My grandmothers were strong. My grandmothers are full of memories Smelling of soap and onions and wet clay With veins rolling roughly over quick hands They have many clean words to say. My grandmothers were strong. Why am I not as they? —Margaret Walker, from For My People (Yale University Press, 1942)
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. . . With my grandmother there was a brief ritual phrase in her dialect mouthed by us children when we went to the old Queen Anne style house in Utica where my mother and all her brothers and sisters grew up. My grandmother was always in the kitchen, dressed in black, standing at a large black range stirring soup or something. My brothers and I, awkward in the presence of her foreignness, would be pushed in her direction by our mother during those holiday visits, and told “Go say hello to Gramma.” We’d go to the strange old woman who didn’t look like any of the grandmothers of our friends or like any of those on the covers of the Saturday Evening Post around Thanksgiving time. Gramma didn’t stuff a turkey or make candied sweet potatoes and pumpkin pies. She made chicken soup filled with tiny pale meatballs and a bitter green she grew in her backyard along with broad beans and basil, things that were definitely un-American in those days. Her smell was like that of the cedar
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closet in our attic. She spoke strange words with a raspy sound. When we stepped into her kitchen to greet her she smiled broadly and tweaked our cheeks. We said in a rush the phrase our mother taught us. We didn’t know what it meant. I think we never asked. And if we were to know it meant “how are you?” what difference would it have made? What further knowledge would we have had of the old woman in the shapeless black garment, with her wisps of gray hair falling out of the thick knob crammed with large old-fashioned tortoise-shell hairpins? None. We were strangers. When on a visit upstate I had occasion to drive through Cazenovia, a village on the shores of Lake Cazenovia, it appeared to me as if in a dream. I saw again the lakeshore meadow that has always remained indelibly imprinted on my mind from childhood, but that I had thought must, by now, have vanished from the real world. That meadow, now called Gypsy Bay Park, was the site of family picnics to which we and Aunt Mary’s family proceeded from Syracuse, while the other contingent (which was by far the greater number—my mother’s three brothers, two other sisters and all their families plus our grandmother) came from Utica. Cazenovia was the approximate half-way point, and there in the meadow on the lake the cars would all pull up and baskets of food would be unloaded for the great summer reunion. . . . It was Gramma who had decreed this annual outing. When two of her daughters married and moved from Utica, she had made known her wish: that the family should meet each summer when travel was easier and eat together al fresco.1 It was her pleasure to have all her children, and their children, convene in the meadow, and spend the day eating, singing, playing cards, gossiping, throwing ball, making jokes and toasts. It was a celebration of her progeny2 of which she, long widowed, was the visible head, the venerable ancestor, the symbol of the strong-willed adventurer who had come from the old world to make a new life and to prosper. She was monumental. I can see her still, an imposing figure, still dressed in black although it was summer, seated on a folding camp chair (just for her) under the shade of a large, leafy elm tree. She sat there as silently as a Sioux chief and was served food, given babies to kiss, and paid homage to all day. The others spread around her, sitting on blankets on the grass, or on the running boards of their Oldsmobiles and Buicks. What made my grandmother so intriguing was the mystery of her. For, despite its gaiety, the family picnic was also a time of puzzlement for me. Who was this stranger in black with whom I could not speak? What was her story? What did she know? What I knew of my grandmother, I heard from my mother: she believed in good food on the table and good linen on the bed. Everything else was fripperies3 and she had the greatest scorn for those who dieted or got their nourishment through pills and potions. She knew you are what you eat and she loved America for the great range of foods that it provided to people like her, used to so little, used to making do. She could not tolerate stinginess; she lived with her eldest son and his family of eleven and did all the gardening and cooking, providing a generous table. . . . We were about fifty kin gathered in that meadow, living proof of the family progress. Gramma’s sons and daughters vied to offer her their services, goods, and offspring—all that food, those cars, the well-dressed young men who would go to college. And Butch, an older cousin, would take me by the hand to the water’s edge and I’d be allowed to wade in Cazenovia’s waters, which were always tingling cold and made me squeal with delicious shock. And yet with all that, for all the good times and good food and the happy chattering people who fussed over me and my brothers, I still felt a sense of strangeness, a sense of my parents’ tolerating with an edge of disdain this old world festa only for the sake of the old lady. When I asked my mother why Gramma looked so strange and never spoke to us, I was told, she came from the old country . . . she doesn’t speak our language. She might as well have been from Mars.
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I never remember hearing our own mother speak to her mother, although she must have, however briefly. I only recall my astonishment at mother’s grief when Gramma died and we went to Utica for the funeral. How could mother really feel so bad about someone she had never really talked to? Was it just because she was expected to cry? Or was she crying for the silence that had lain like a chasm between them? . . . —Helen Barolini, from “How I Learned to Speak Italian,” Southwest Review, Winter 1997
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al fresco—in the open air progeny—offspring fripperies—nonessentials
Questions 1–5 refer to Passage I. 1. The narrator implies that the strength of grandmothers results from their (1) (2) (3) (4)
cheery songs. long lives. large bodies. hard work.
Correct answer: (4) This is an inference question. The narrator implies by describing the hard, physical work of the grandmothers but does not directly state that it results in their strength of character. The reader must infer this. While “large bodies” (choice 3) may contribute to physical strength, the narrator is also referring to strength of character. Choice 1 is not substantial enough to produce the effect of strength. Choice 2 may be a result of strength but does not produce it. 2. “They touched earth and grain grew” (line 4) suggests the grandmothers’ role of (1) (2) (3) (4)
protector. provider. teacher. entertainer.
Correct answer: (2) This is an analysis question. In line 3, the narrator states, “They moved through fields sowing seed.” Line 4 is the effect of sowing seed, which is that grain grew. Therefore, the grandmother is a provider. All other choices are not directly relevant to the role of sowing seeds to provide food. 3. In order to emphasize her feelings about her grandmothers, the narrator uses (1) (2) (3) (4)
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repetition. onomatopoeia. simile. symbolism.
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Reading and Writing for Literary Response Correct answer: (1) This is an analysis question. There is no onomatopoeia in the poem. Onomatopoeia is when the sound of the word is its meaning, like “buzz.” Nor is there use of simile. Simile is a stated comparison between two unlike things. An example would be “the rainbow looks like a band of ribbons in the sky.” The reader may interpret some of the imagery as symbols. For example, sowing seeds and raising plants could be seen as a symbol for motherhood. However, it is the repetition of those images of work and strength that emphasizes the theme of the poem. 4. The narrator’s feeling toward her grandmothers is best described as (1) (2) (3) (4)
resentment. embarrassment. admiration. concern.
Correct answer: (3) This is an analysis question. The narrator’s tone is one of respect and reverence. In the last line, she states, “Why am I not as they . . .” meaning that she regrets she is not like them. All other choices are negative assessments of the grandmothers, which are not the feelings of the narrator. 5. In comparison to the grandmothers, the narrator is seen as (1) (2) (3) (4)
more nurturing. more religious. less intelligent. less capable.
Correct answer: (4) This is an analysis question. It builds on the previous question (in test design, that’s called scaffolding). The narrator says in the last line that she is not like them; therefore, she is less capable. Choice 1 is incorrect because the narrator is seen as less nurturing than the grandmothers. Choices 2 and 3 are not part of the narrative. Questions 6–8 refer to Passage II. 6. According to the narrator, the “annual outing” celebrated the importance of (1) (2) (3) (4)
solitude. responsibility. family. travel.
Correct answer: (3) This is a recall question. In line 31, the narrator states, “ It was a celebration of her progeny . . .” Footnote number 2 defines progeny as “offspring.” Offspring are the children of a family.
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7. The comparison between the Native American chief and the grandmother (line 36) characterizes her as (1) (2) (3) (4)
courageous. respected. intelligent. kind.
Correct answer: (2) This is a recall question. Lines 35-37 state, “She sat there as silently as a Sioux chief and was served food, given babies to kiss, and paid homage to all day.” Firstly, a chief would be respected as the leader of the tribe. Secondly, the description of the actions of the family as serving, giving, and paying homage also demonstrates respect. 8. The narrator’s description of her mother’s reaction to the death of “Gramma” is an example of (1) (2) (3) (4)
irony. personification. alliteration. humor.
Correct answer: (1) This is an analysis question. Irony is when the unexpected happens. In this case, the narrator never remembers her mother speaking to her own mother; however, when the grandmother dies, the mother is full of grief. This is ironic because the narrator didn’t expect this to happen. Personification means giving human qualities to non-human things, and alliteration is the repetition of initial consonant sounds. Neither of these figurative language terms would apply. Questions 9 and 10 refer to both passages. 9. Both passages reveal the theme of (1) (2) (3) (4)
grandparents’ trust. generational difference. social conflict. family rivalry.
Correct answer: (2) This is a summarization question. After reading both passages, it can be determined that there are differences between generations. In the first passage, the granddaughter is not as strong as her grandmothers. In the second passage, there are differences between and among the grandmother, her daughter, and the granddaughter. The other three choices are not represented in the narrative. 10. The grandmothers of Passage I differ from the grandmother in Passage II in the ability to (1) (2) (3) (4)
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discipline. heal. survive. communicate.
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Reading and Writing for Literary Response Correct answer: (4) This is an analysis question. In Passage I, the actions of the grandmothers communicated strongly to the grandchild. They worked and sang , and their very presence produced vivid memories for the grandchild. However, in Passage II, the narrator says in lines 54 and 55 that “Gramma looked so strange and never spoke to us . . .” Also, in line 57 the narrator states, “I never remember hearing our own mother speak to her mother . . .” These comments indicated that the grandmother in the second passage did not communicate well, while the grandmothers in the first did. Choices 1 and 3 are demonstrated by the grandmothers. Choice 2 is indirectly referred to in Passage II, because the grandmother disdained “those who dieted or got their nourishment through pills and potions.” She put her value in the healing, curative power of “good food.” However, this reference is not strong enough to support choice 2 as the correct answer. In Part A of Session Two, you are required to write an essay analyzing the two passages utilizing the concept of the “controlling idea.” A controlling idea is a shared idea between the two works that expresses a similar theme or notion. Then you use examples (proofs) from each work that exemplify the controlling idea. For each work, you must give a literary element that can include the following examples but is not limited to these terms: ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
Setting Characterization Plot Point of view Theme Symbolism
Any literary device or figurative language term is acceptable if used correctly in the context of the works. Also, you may use the same literary term for both works. The controlling idea is revealed in the Your Task description and Guidelines. Your Task: After you have read the passages and answered the multiple-choice questions, write a unified essay about the influence of grandmothers as revealed in the passages. In your essay, use ideas from both passages to establish a controlling idea about the influence of grandmothers. Using evidence from each passage, develop your controlling idea and show how the author uses specific literary elements or techniques to convey that idea.
Controlling Idea Essay Outline Introductory Paragraph 1: Provide and develop the controlling idea and make reference to the two passages and authors. Body Paragraphs 2 and 3: Give examples (proofs) from each passage that refer to opportunities for learning in a separate paragraph for each passage.
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CliffsTestPrep Regents English Workbook Concluding Paragraph 4: Restate information. The introductory paragraph further develops the controlling idea about the influence of grandmothers. Both passages deal with the how grandmothers have influenced their offspring, either mothers and/or grandchildren. In Passage I, by Margaret Walker, the two grandmothers were strong, hard-working people. They grew crops and provided food for the family. They provided a positive role model for strength and resolve by their actions and appearances and were respected. In addition, they had many words to say to their offspring and memories to share. Passage II, by Helen Barolini, also portrays the influence of a grandmother. She too stressed the importance of family and was respected. However, unlike in the first passage, she did not communicate with her offspring. In your first paragraph, you have established and developed the controlling idea about the influence of grandmothers, provided some proofs, and named the authors. The body contains specific references to the passages regarding these influences and the effect they have on offspring. A literary element must be used for each passage. For the first passage, point of view would be an excellent choice because the granddaughter is the narrator describing her grandmothers. She describes their physical strengths when she states, “They followed plows and bent to toil. They moved through fields sowing seed. They touched earth and grain grew.” She also refers to their strength of character when she says, “They were full of sturdiness and singing.” The grandmothers were “full of memories” and had “many clean words to say.” Also, the author talks about the effect that they had on her and how she regrets not being like them when she writes, “ My grandmothers were strong, why am I not as they?” This shows her admiration for them. In the second passage, point of view would, again, be an effective literary element as the author is the narrator of the passage. She too reveres and respects her grandmother for her strength and love of family. The grandmother “believed in good food on the table and good linen on the bed,” so she too provided for her family. However, the grandmother did not communicate much to her or her mother. There wasn’t much common ground to share because of the cultural barrier that existed between the grandmother and her daughter and the granddaughter. The language was different, and the grandmother is described as silent “as a Sioux chief.” Yet, she had their respect and veneration just as a true chief would because she was head of the family. This was demonstrated at the family reunion, where about fifty kin gathered to celebrate family, and “She . . . was served food, given babies to kiss, and paid homage to all day.” So there were good times and good food, the happy interaction between family members, but still a sense of strangeness and remoteness because the grandmother was from another time and place—“she came from the old country . . . she doesn’t speak our language. She might as well have been from Mars.” It is this disparity that makes the second passage different from the first, and, in addition to the similarities between the two passages, you should point out this major difference in your essay.
Selection Five Directions: Read the passages on the following pages (a poem and an excerpt from a short story). Write the number of the answer to each multiple-choice question on your answer sheet. Then write the essay in your essay booklet as described in Your Task. You may use the margins to take notes as you read and scrap paper to plan your response.
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Reading and Writing for Literary Response Your Task: After you have read the passages and answered the multiple-choice questions, write a unified essay about the power of reading as revealed in the passages. In your essay, use ideas from both passages to establish a controlling idea about the power of reading. Using evidence from each passage, develop your controlling idea and show how the author uses specific literary elements or techniques to convey that idea.
Guidelines Be sure to . . . ■ ■ ■
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Use ideas from both passages to establish a controlling idea about the power of reading. Use specific and relevant evidence from each passage to develop your controlling idea. Show how each author uses specific literary elements (for example: theme, characterization, structure, point of view) or techniques (for example: symbolism, irony, figurative language) to convey the controlling idea. Organize your ideas in a logical and coherent manner. Use language that communicates ideas effectively. Follow the conventions of standard written English.
Passage I The Reader
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She is going back, these days, to the great stories That charmed her younger mind. A shaded light Shines on the nape half-shadowed by her curls, And a page turns now with a scuffing sound. Onward they come again, the orphans reaching For a first handhold in a stony world, The young provincials who at last look down On the city’s maze, and will descend into it, The serious girl, once more, who would live nobly, The sly one who aspires to marry so, The young man bent on glory, and that other Who seeks a burden. Knowing as she does What will become of them in bloody field Or Tuscan garden, it may be that at times She sees their first and final selves at once, As a god might to whom all time is now. Or, having lived so much herself, perhaps She meets them this time with a wiser eye, Noting that Julien’s calculating head
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Is from the first too severed from his heart. But the true wonder of it is that she, For all that she may know of consequences, Still turns enchanted to the next bright page Like some Natasha in the ballroom door— Caught in the flow of things wherever bound, The blind delight of being, ready still To enter life on life and see them through. —Richard Wilbur, from The New Yorker, October 1, 2001
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One day, in the illustrious nation of Panduria, a suspicion crept into the minds of top officials: that books contained opinions hostile to military prestige. In fact trials and enquiries had revealed that the tendency, now so widespread, of thinking of generals as people actually capable of making mistakes and causing catastrophes, and of wars as things that did not always amount to splendid cavalry charges towards a glorious destiny, was shared by a large number of books, ancient and modern, foreign and Pandurese. Panduria’s General Staff met together to assess the situation. But they didn’t know where to begin, because none of them was particularly well-versed in matters bibliographical. A commission of enquiry was set up under General Fedina, a severe and scrupulous official. The commission was to examine all the books in the biggest library in Panduria. . . . The military took over the library one rainy morning in November. The general climbed off his horse, squat, stiff, his thick neck shaven, his eyebrows frowning over pince-nez1; four lanky lieutenants, chins held high and eyelids lowered, got out of a car, each with a briefcase in his hand. Then came a squadron of soldiers who set up camp in the old courtyard, with mules, bales of hay, tents, cooking equipment, camp radio, and signalling flags. . . . Of the library staff, only one little old man, Signor Crispino, was kept so that he could explain to the officers how the books were arranged. He was a shortish fellow, with a bald, eggish pate and eyes like pinheads behind his spectacles. . . . Then duties were assigned. Each lieutenant was allotted a particular branch of knowledge, a particular century of history. The general was to oversee the sorting of the volumes and the application of an appropriate rubber stamp depending on whether a book had been judged suitable for officers, NCOs2, common soldiers, or should be reported to the Military Court. And the commission began its appointed task. Every evening the camp radio transmitted General Fedina’s report to HQ. ‘So many books examined. So many seized as suspect. So many declared suitable for officers and soldiers.’ Only rarely were these cold figures accompanied by something out of the ordinary: a request for a pair of glasses to correct short-sightedness for an officer who had broken his, the news that a mule had eaten a rare manuscript edition of Cicero left unattended. But developments of far greater import were under way, about which the camp radio transmitted no news at all. Rather than thinning out, the forest of books seemed to grow ever more tangled and insidious. The officers would have lost their way had it not been for the help of Signor Crispino. Lieutenant Abrogati, for example, would jump to his feet and throw the book he was reading down on the table: ‘But this is outrageous! A book about the Punic Wars that speaks well of the Carthaginians and criticizes the Romans! This must be reported at once!’ (It should be said here that, rightly or wrongly, the Pandurians considered themselves descendants of the Romans.) Moving
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silently in soft slippers, the old librarian came up to him. ‘That’s nothing,’ he would say, ‘read what it says here, about the Romans again, you can put this in your report too, and this and this,’ and he presented him with a pile of books. The lieutenant leafed nervously through them, then, getting interested, he began to read, to take notes. And he would scratch his head and mutter: ‘For heaven’s sake! The things you learn! Who would ever have thought!’ Signor Crispino went over to Lieutenant Lucchetti who was closing a tome3 in rage, declaring: ‘Nice stuff this is! These people have the audacity to entertain doubts as to the purity of the ideals that inspired the Crusades! Yessir, the Crusades!’And Signor Crispino said with a smile: ‘Oh, but look, if you have to make a report on that subject, may I suggest a few other books that will offer more details,’ and he pulled down half a shelf-full. Lieutenant Lucchetti leaned forward and got stuck in, and for a week you could hear him flicking through the pages and muttering: ‘These Crusades though, very nice I must say!’ In the commission’s evening report, the number of books examined got bigger and bigger, but they no longer provided figures relative to positive and negative verdicts. General Fedina’s rubber stamps lay idle. If, trying to check up on the work of one of the lieutenants, he asked, ‘But why did you pass this novel? The soldiers come off better than the officers! This author has no respect for hierarchy!’, the lieutenant would answer by quoting other authors and getting all muddled up in matters historical, philosophical and economic. This led to open discussions that went on for hours and hours. Moving silently in his slippers, almost invisible in his grey shirt, Signor Crispino would always join in at the right moment, offering some book which he felt contained interesting information on the subject under consideration, and which always had the effect of radically undermining General Fedina’s convictions. . . . Not much is known about the progress of the commission’s work: what happened in the library through the long winter weeks was not reported. All we know is that General Fedina’s radio reports to General Staff headquarters became ever more infrequent until finally they stopped altogether. The Chief of Staff was alarmed; he transmitted the order to wind up the enquiry as quickly as possible and present a full and detailed report. In the library, the order found the minds of Fedina and his men prey to conflicting sentiments: on the one hand they were constantly discovering new interests to satisfy and were enjoying their reading and studies more than they would ever have imagined; on the other hand they couldn’t wait to be back in the world again, to take up life again, a world and a life that seemed so much more complex now, as though renewed before their very eyes; and on yet another hand, the fact that the day was fast approaching when they would have to leave the library filled them with apprehension, for they would have to give an account of their mission, and with all the ideas that were bubbling up in their heads they had no idea how to get out of what had become a very tight corner indeed. . . . One bright morning the commission finally left the library and went to report to the Chief of Staff; and Fedina illustrated the results of the enquiry before an assembly of the General Staff. His speech was a kind of compendium4 of human history from its origins down to the present day, a compendium in which all those ideas considered beyond discussion by the right-minded folk of Panduria were attacked, in which the ruling classes were declared responsible for the nation’s misfortunes, and the people exalted as the heroic victims of mistaken policies and unnecessary wars. It was a somewhat confused presentation including, as can happen with those who have only recently embraced new ideas, declarations that were often simplistic and contradictory. But as to the overall meaning there could be no doubt. The assembly of generals was stunned, their eyes opened wide, then they found their voices and began to shout. General Fedina was not even allowed to finish. There was talk of a court-martial, of his being reduced to the ranks.
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Then, afraid there might be a more serious scandal, the general and the four lieutenants were each pensioned off for health reasons, as a result of ‘a serious nervous breakdown suffered in the course of duty’. Dressed in civilian clothes, with heavy coats and thick sweaters so as not to freeze, they were often to be seen going into the old library where Signor Crispino would be waiting for them with his books. —“A General in the Library,” translated by Timothy Parks, from Numbers in the Dark by Italo Calvino, translated by Timothy Parks, English translation ©1995 by Timothy Parks. Used by permission of Pantheon Books, a division of Random House, Inc.
1 2 3 4
pince-nez—eyeglasses clipped to the nose by a spring NCOs—noncommissioned officers tome—large book compendium—summary
Questions 1–5 refer to Passage I. 1. “She is going back, these days” (line 1) indicates that the reader is (1) (2) (3) (4)
looking at old photographs. rearranging a library. rereading old books. searching for new books.
Correct answer: (3) This is an analysis question. The reader must interpret the words, “Going back” to mean that she is going back to reread “great stories that charmed her younger mind.” The description “younger” indicates that she has read the books once before. 2. Who are the people described in lines 5-12? (1) (2) (3) (4)
Friends from childhood Characters from literature Famous actors Noted authors
Correct answer: (2) This is an analysis question. In line 4, the poet states, “And a page turns now with a scuffing sound.” After that “page turns,” different people appear as characters from the books she has read. 3. The “bloody field” (line 13) and the “Tuscan garden” (line 14) suggest the reader’s interest in the (1) (2) (3) (4)
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setting. plot. character. point of view.
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Reading and Writing for Literary Response Correct answer: (1) This is an inference question. The author “suggests” but doesn’t state outright; therefore, the reader must infer. Since the “bloody field” and the “Tuscan garden” are both places, and setting is the literary element that defines place, setting is the answer. 4. The paradox in line 15 indicates that the reader (1) (2) (3) (4)
guesses her future. regrets her childhood. invents the characters. knows the endings.
Correct answer: (4) This is a vocabulary question. Paradox is the literary element that defines a statement or phrase that can be contradictory but still be true. The paradox of line 15 is that the reader already knows the endings of the books she has read. Therefore, she simultaneously knows the beginnings and ends of those characters’ lives. 5. In line 18, “a wiser eye” implies that the reader now has (1) (2) (3) (4)
superior goals. better eyesight. greater insight. stronger opinions.
Correct answer: (3) This is more than a vocabulary question because the poet implies, and the reader must infer. The use of “eye” in this context is more figurative than literal. It does not merely refer to the eye as a sight organ but rather as insight itself. “Wise” implies greater insight. Questions 6–10 refer to Passage II. 6. What is the commission’s “appointed task” (line 23)? (1) (2) (3) (4)
Taking an inventory Censoring books Writing regulations Protecting the library
Correct answer: (2) This is a recall question. The passage goes on to state, “‘So many books examined. So many seized as suspect. So many declared suitable for officers and soldiers.’” The commission’s job, clearly, is to censor books.
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7. The statement “General Fedina’s rubber stamps lay idle” (lines 48 and 49) emphasizes that the men were unable to (1) (2) (3) (4)
comprehend complex material. consider original sources. reconfigure the library’s contents. perform their assigned task.
Correct answer: (4) This is an analysis question. The rubber stamps are used to mark books as either appropriate or not; therefore, if they “remain idle” they are not being used, and the men cannot perform their assigned task of censorship. 8. The word “undermining” as used in line 55 most nearly means (1) (2) (3) (4)
harvesting. studying. contradicting. repeating.
Correct answer: (3) This is a vocabulary question. The context clue is “radically.” If the new information supported General Fedina’s convictions, “radically” would not be used to describe it. “Radical” means to depart from the usual or accepted; therefore, the information would contradict Fedina’s conclusions. 9. General Fedina and his lieutenants avoided a court-martial because the assembly of generals wished to (1) (2) (3) (4)
prevent a scandal. close the library. cure nervous breakdowns. publish the results.
Correct answer: (1) This is a recall question. Lines 81-83 state, “Then, afraid there might be a more serious scandal, the general and the four lieutenants were each pensioned off for health reasons, as a result of ‘a serious nervous breakdown suffered in the course of duty.’” 10. An ironic result of the mission was that the soldiers (1) (2) (3) (4)
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left Panduria for good. returned to active duty. received promotion in rank. returned to the library.
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Reading and Writing for Literary Response Correct answer: (4) This is an analysis question. The reader must know the literary element, irony. It is when the unexpected happens. At the end of the story, it is unexpected that the soldiers, who were in charge of censoring books, would come back to the library dressed in civilian clothes, to get books from Signor Crispino. In Part A of Session Two, you are required to write an essay analyzing the two passages utilizing the concept of the “controlling idea.” A controlling idea is a shared idea between the two works that expresses a similar theme or notion. Then you use examples (proofs) from each work that exemplify the controlling idea. For each work, you must give a literary element that can include the following examples but is not limited to these terms: ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
Setting Characterization Plot Point of view Theme Symbolism
Any literary device or figurative language term is acceptable if used correctly in the context of the works. Also, you may use the same literary term for both works. The controlling idea is revealed in the Your Task description and Guidelines.
Controlling Idea Essay Outline Introductory Paragraph 1: Provide and develop the controlling idea and make reference to the two passages and authors. Body Paragraphs 2 and 3: Give examples (proofs) from each passage that refer to the nature of work in a separate paragraph for each passage. Concluding Paragraph 4: Restate information. The introductory paragraph further develops the controlling idea about the power of reading. In Passage I, by Richard Wilbur, the focus is on a girl who enjoyed reading when she was younger. She decides to reread some of her favorite stories from the past. An effective literary term to use would be extended metaphor because in this poem the characters from literature become people in the poem, and the settings become places. This metaphor is used in an extended way throughout the poem. The power of literature allows her to, again, revisit their lives and times. In Passage II, by Italo Calvino, the power of reading intimidates the military in the nation of Panduria. They feared that books contained information “hostile to military prestige.” The literary element of setting plays an important part in this story because it provides a time and place in which the government censors books. In your first paragraph, you have established and developed the controlling idea about the power of reading, identified the works and the authors, and named the respective literary elements.
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CliffsTestPrep Regents English Workbook The body contains specific references to the power of reading. For example, Passage I is titled “The Reader.” This emphasizes the reader as being important and valued. By using the article “the” instead of “a,” the poet adds more specificity and power to the act of reading by an individual. Other words also emphasize the power of reading like “great stories that charmed” (lines 1 and 2) and the “blind delight of being” (line 26) sustained by the act of reading. Diction is the literary element that means word choice. Cite the characters and places detailed in lines 5-24 because they are full of life and imagination. The act of reading also prompts the poet to say that the woman he writes about is “going back” (line 1) as if traveling through space and time. The power of reading enables this. Most significantly, the reader experiences the paradox (literary element) of knowing, simultaneously, the beginnings and endings of those characters’ lives. That can’t be known in real life. Lastly, in line 18, the reader has a “wiser eye” (greater insight) after having the experience of reading. In Passage II, the power of reading is so great that it intimidates the military into censoring books. General Fedina sets up a commission to examine all of the books in the biggest library in Panduria to see if they contain “opinions hostile” (line 2) to the prestige of the military. The soldiers were not “wellversed in matters bibliographical” (line 8), so they seek out the help of Signor Crispino, one of the library staff. He intentionally directs them to books that are full of rich ideas that they find stimulating. The job of censorship grows more difficult with the more that they read because of the seemingly endless amount of information that is contained in books of all sorts. Meanwhile, Fedina is ignoring truly important matters of state to pursue the impossible task of judging books as suitable for officers, NCOs, or common soldiers. The “rubber stamps lay idle” (lines 48 and 49) as the men cannot complete their task. Ultimately, to avoid “a more serious scandal” (line 81), the mission is abandoned. The general and four lieutenants were given pensions because they “‘suffered a serious nervous breakdown in the course of duty’” (lines 82 and 83). At the end of the passage, the soldiers return to the library, dressed in civilian clothes, and Signor Crispino gives them more books to read. The literary element of irony would be applicable here, as the unexpected happens when the very people in charge of censoring books grow to love them and return for more. Passage II demonstrates the power of reading by showing how books, in their infinite variety and complexity, can’t be labeled and censored just as people have the desire and unquenchable thirst to be informed by what they contain.
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Reading and Writing for Critical Analysis and Evaluation This chapter is the final part of Session Two in the actual exam, and is the Critical Lens. Basically, this is a persuasive, literary essay, with one important difference—the addition of a Critical Lens (a quote). The quote is not from a work of literature about which you are being asked to respond. It is a quote whose meaning can be applied to two literary works that you choose from what you have read. Since school districts statewide can choose what works of literature they want to teach, you are free to use any examples in the following Critical Lens essays that reflect the literature that you have studied throughout the year. Our authors have provided some sample outlines for these essays to give you an idea of how to approach these specific essays. It will be very helpful to review this chapter to understand effective methods for the interpretation of a quote, and approaching the Critical Lens essay form. In addition, the appendix at the end of this book offers you sample Critical Lens questions; it would be worthwhile to read the quotations, indicate what works of literature you might choose to use in each essay, and based on your choices, specify whether you agree or disagree with the premise. Your Task: Write a critical essay in which you discuss two works of literature you have read from the particular perspective of the statement that is provided for you in the Critical Lens. In your essay, provide a valid interpretation of the statement, agree or disagree with the statement as you have interpreted it, and support your opinion using specific references to appropriate literary elements from the two works. You may use scrap paper to plan your response.
Overview ■ ■
Use two works of literature. Include one literary term per work (it can be the same term).
Paragraph 1 ■ ■ ■ ■
Explain the Critical Lens. Agree or disagree (choose only one). Choose two works of literature. Give authors.
Paragraphs 2 and 3 ■ ■
Give proofs (examples) from each work that support your understanding of the Critical Lens. Include one literary element for each work.
Paragraph 4 ■
Conclusion—restate information.
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Essay One Read the following Critical Lens and write down your interpretation. “The human heart has ever dreamed of a fairer world than the one it knows.” —Carleton Noyes, “Poetry: General Introduction,” from Lectures on the Harvard Classics, 1914 In the introductory paragraph, interpret the Critical Lens quote in your own words. In this quote, the human heart is referred to in a figurative sense, not literally. The human heart is considered to be the place where hope, desire, passion, and yearning reside. The implication is that the human heart has “ever” (always) dreamed of a fairer world than the one it knows. One can interpret “fairer” to literally mean fair, as in being treated equally, or, in a more antiquated sense, to mean more beautiful. Either interpretation would be valid. The quote also postulates that even though the human heart dreams of this world, it knows better by its own experiences that, in reality, the world is not fair. Do not attempt to take both sides of the issue because it will weaken your arguments. Most quotes can be agreed with quite easily and elicit that response; however, you may disagree with any quote. What is most important is that you support your understanding of the lens with examples from two works of literature, which you will name in the first paragraph. The body of the essay consists of two paragraphs, one for each work that you choose. This is where you will give examples (proofs) from each work that support your understanding of the quote (that the human heart has always dreamed of a fairer world). For each work, you must give a literary element that can include the following examples but is not limited to these terms: ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
Setting Characterization Plot Point of view Theme Symbolism
Any literary device or figurative language term is acceptable if used correctly in the context of the works. Also, you may use the same literary term for both works. Since this quote is a statement about the world in which we live, the use of the literary terms setting and/or plot would be logical and effective. If you agree with the quote, choose two works where either the setting or the plot shows and tells of a world that is less than perfect and flawed. Demonstrate how these imperfections adversely affect the characters in the story and would make them long for a better world in which to live. Another approach would be through the literary terms characterization, antagonist, and protagonist. Choose works in which the antagonist (adversary) negatively affects the protagonist (the main character, who is usually heroic). That external conflict would be the basis of a world that is not fair either in terms of justice or beauty. In the concluding paragraph, restate your main ideas as they apply to your interpretation of the Critical Lens.
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Essay Two Read the following Critical Lens and write down your interpretation. “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” —Martin Luther King, Jr., Strength to Love, 1963 In the introductory paragraph, interpret the Critical Lens quote in your own words. The quote means that an individual should not be judged by how he or she behaves when there is no pressure and conflict. His or her actions should be weighed more heavily in times of stress and difficulty. Works that would effectively support agreement with this quote would be ones in which the protagonist (main character) faces a dilemma. The literary elements that would express this dilemma are internal and external conflict. Internal conflict arises from within the character who experiences indecision, hesitation, and doubt. External conflict is a force or adversary that exists outside of the character and causes a dilemma. Another integral component that could cause great “challenge and controversy” is the literary element of setting. The time and place of a story can place the protagonist in great jeopardy with obstacles and circumstances that need to be overcome. Also, as part of the external conflict, the protagonist can be challenged by an adversary, the literary term for which is the antagonist, who needs to be defeated. Do not attempt to take both sides of the issue because it will weaken your arguments. Most quotes can be agreed with quite easily and elicit that response; however, you may disagree with any quote. What is most important is that you support your understanding of the lens with examples from two works of literature, which you will name in the first paragraph. The body of the essay consists of two paragraphs, one for each work that you choose. This is where you will give examples (proofs) from each work that support your understanding of the quote that the true test of an individual is in times of adversity. For each work, you must give a literary element that can include the following examples but is not limited to these terms: ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
Setting Characterization Plot Point of view Theme Symbolism
Any literary device or figurative language term is acceptable if used correctly in the context of the works. Also, you may use the same literary term for both works. In the body, describe the setting and the external and internal conflicts and how they impose “challenge and controversy” upon the main character. Next demonstrate how the character has the courage, strength, and resolve to face his or her problems. The literary term characterization can be used to describe those efforts. The characters may fail in their attempts, but they still meet Martin Luther King’s test for the “ultimate measure” of a person. In the concluding paragraph, restate your main ideas as they apply to your interpretation of the Critical Lens.
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Essay Three Read the following Critical Lens and write down your interpretation. (For the purpose of writing your critical essay, you may interpret the word “book” to include plays, short stories, poems, biographies, and books of true experience.) “The right good book is always a book of travel; it is about a life’s journey.” —H. M. Tomlinson, Out of Soundings, 1931 In the introductory paragraph of your essay, you must provide a “valid” interpretation of the Critical Lens quote in your own words. While quotes may be open to interpretation, generally speaking, the scope of meaning of the quote is specific and not open ended and unable to sustain numerous, tangential meanings. However, quotes can go beyond the literal (actual meaning) and have a more figurative sense to them. While a good book can be literally about travel from one place to another, the figurative meaning of the quote is that good literature is about life as a journey. That is the metaphor. Many great works of literature are about the journey of a character through his or her life. The primary interpretation of the quote, therefore, would be that great literature is about the life’s journey of a character. Also, in the introductory paragraph, you must agree or disagree with the quote. Do not attempt to take both sides of the issue because it will weaken your arguments. Most quotes can be agreed with quite easily and elicit that response; however, you may disagree with any quote. What is important is that you support your understanding of the lens with examples from two works of literature, which you will name in the first paragraph. The body of the essay consists of two paragraphs, one for each work that you choose. This is where you will give examples (proofs) from each work that support your understanding of the quote (that a good book is the story about a life’s journey). For each work, you must give a literary element that can include the following examples but is not limited to these terms: ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
Setting Characterization Plot Point of view Theme Symbolism
Any literary device or figurative language term is acceptable if used correctly in the context of the works. Also, you may use the same literary term for both works. The works that you choose should have a character or characters whose life experiences exemplify the Critical Lens by demonstrating how a life’s journey makes a good book. Two literary elements that apply include characterization (what the person is like) and plot (the story of his or her life). The life’s journey doesn’t have to have a happy conclusion; it could result in tragedy. However, it provides a good story. For example, the main character could display heroic qualities and persevere when others quit. He or she could face obstacles and fail, but it is accepting the challenges and the conflicts that makes a “right good book.” In the concluding paragraph, restate your main ideas as they apply to your interpretation of the Critical Lens.
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Essay Four Read the following Critical Lens and write down your interpretation. “I like flawed characters because somewhere in them I see more of the truth.” —Nicolas Cage, as quoted in “His Truth is Out There” from Los Angeles Times, November 12, 2000 In the introductory paragraph, interpret the Critical Lens quote in your own words. This Critical Lens poses the interesting idea that flawed characters (ones who have imperfections) possess more of the truth of humanity. What Nicolas Cage is saying is that it’s the imperfections in people that hold the true essence of who and what we are. It is only human to be flawed and not be perfect. Do not attempt to take both sides of the issue because it will weaken your arguments. Most quotes can be agreed with quite easily and elicit that response; however, you may disagree with any quote. What is most important is that you support your understanding of the lens with examples from two works of literature, which you will name in the first paragraph. The body of the essay consists of two paragraphs, one for each work that you choose. This is where you will give examples (proofs) from each work that support your understanding of the quote (that flawed characters have more truth). For each work, you must give a literary element that can include the following examples but is not limited to these terms: ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
Setting Characterization Plot Point of view Theme Symbolism
Any literary device or figurative language term is acceptable if used correctly in the context of the works. Also, you may use the same literary term for both works. Since this quote is a statement about character, applying the literary element of characterization would be logical and effective. Also, the literary element of the tragic flaw would readily apply and is commonly found in many novels and plays. A tragic flaw is an aspect of a character’s personality that is undesirable and leads to his or her downfall. An example of a tragic flaw would be excessive pride. Choose two works whose main characters possess a tragic flaw that makes them less than perfect and could even lead to their downfall or death. Then develop the parallel idea that this is the true nature of the human condition, that humanity is flawed, possesses imperfections, and adversely affects not only the individual but others as well. To organize these concepts, firstly, choose the works you want to use, identify a character(s) in each work, and describe their fatal flaw(s). Secondly, tell how those flaws affect others and how they affect the individual. Lastly, address what truth these flaws reveal about the human condition. For example, explore the flaw of revenge and decide what that shows about the nature of people. These would be rich areas for analysis and interpretation when related to the Critical Lens. In the concluding paragraph, restate your main ideas as they apply to your interpretation of the Critical Lens.
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Essay Five Read the following Critical Lens and write down your interpretation. “In a dark time, the eye begins to see . . .” —Theodore Roethke, The Collected Poems of Theodore Roethke, 1966 1. Provide a valid interpretation of the quote: In times of hardship, one’s perspective will change and view things in a different light. During difficult times, you begin to think much differently and view things more clearly. 2. Make sure to note the author of the quote and whether or not you agree or disagree with the quote. 3. Note titles and authors which you will use to support your position. Introduction: “In a dark time, the eye begins to see . . .” once stated by Theodore Roethke. Roethke’s statement proves the position that in times of hardship, one’s perspective will change and one will begin to view things more clearly. I believe this quote is true based on the novel The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck. In each novel, the protagonist has a hardship they face and a difficult decision to make. In both cases, they come to a new light where, in the end, they believe they made the best decision they would not have made at the beginning of the novel. Paragraph 1: The Scarlet Letter 1. Hester is publicly embarrassed after she commits adultery and has an affair with the town’s local minister—Hester is in conflict with the members of her town, who have strict Puritan beliefs. 2. She has an internal conflict, which reveals that she knows she did something wrong and she cannot come to terms with forgiving herself for what she did. 3. A major theme in the novel is isolation—Hester is shunned from the town and is not included as a member of her society until the end when they believe that she is truly sorry, yet she insists on living on the border of the town and the forest—this proves that Hester is willing to accept her sin and that she views life in a different way that she hadn’t before. 4. A major symbol in the novel is the scarlet letter A, which appears forever on Hester’s bosom and also on the minister’s chest as the reader believes that he tortures himself for his sins. The quote refers to Hester and her enlightenment throughout the novel. At first, Hester thought of her scarlet letter A as a symbol of embarrassment and mockery. Yet toward the end, Hester looked at the situation she once thought of as horrible as a learning experience. The scarlet letter A did not change her as a person, but changed the perspective of the community; once thinking that she was a sinner, they came to look upon her as an example of strength and forgiveness. Even though Hester went through some trying times, she tried her best to get through them with confidence.
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Reading and Writing for Critical Analysis and Evaluation Paragraph 2: Of Mice and Men 1. A major theme throughout the novel is the impossibility of the American Dream—Lennie and George work hard day after day in order to buy a plot of land so they can work for themselves. 2. Another important theme in the novel is the importance of companionship—Lennie and George are always there for each other, until George has to make the decision to end Lennie’s life. 3. A symbol that foreshadows the ending is Lennie’s puppy—Lennie hurts everything that he touches, not on purpose but just because he gets nervous and he is too strong for his own good. The quote refers to the reader’s seeing things in a new light, for Lennie and George are good friends and you would think that a friend would never do anything to cause harm to another. When George makes the decision to kill Lennie, the reader looks at it from the point of view of a mercy killing. If George hadn’t done it, then the other men on the farm would have done it and it would have made the situation for George much more painful. Conclusion: In general, people are faced with difficult decisions that can affect their future. Both of the protagonists, Hester and George, are placed in a difficult situation that, if handled incorrectly, could place them in an even worse situation than the one they started in. In both cases, the characters take the harder path, yet in the end, the outcome is rewarding because they are at peace with themselves.
Essay Six Read the following Critical Lens and write down your interpretation. “To gain that which is worth having, it may be necessary to lose everything else.” —Bernadette Devlin, The Price of My Soul, 1969 In the introductory paragraph, interpret the Critical Lens quote in your own words. The quote means that sometimes the things in life that are the most important and worthwhile are only gained through great sacrifice and loss. Choose two works where the main character (protagonist) strives for something that is noteworthy and extremely important to him or her. By achieving that goal, or in the struggle to do so, the character loses everything else. The quote itself is a thematic statement, so, in addition to the literary element of protagonist, theme can be used. Do not attempt to take both sides of the issue because it will weaken your arguments. Most quotes can be agreed with quite easily and elicit that response; however, you may disagree with any quote. What is most important is that you support your understanding of the lens with examples from two works of literature, which you will name in the first paragraph. The body of the essay consists of two paragraphs, one for each work that you choose. This is where you will give examples (proofs) from each work that support your understanding of the quote (that to gain something worth having, all else can be lost). For each work, you must give a literary element that can include the following examples but is not limited to these terms: ■ ■ ■
Setting Characterization Plot
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Point of view Theme Symbolism
Any literary device or figurative language term is acceptable if used correctly in the context of the works. Also, you may use the same literary term for both works. In addition to the literary elements suggested in the introductory paragraph, the quote is ironic in nature. If a character either succeeds in gaining what he or she wants but loses everything else, or fails in the attempt to get what he or she wants, and still loses everything in the process, that definitely would be considered ironic (when the opposite occurs). You can also choose an antagonist (a main character, but usually an adversary) to demonstrate the truth of the quote. That character would want to gain something worthwhile but is willing to do anything and everything to get it. That kind of all-consuming ambition would be considered a tragic flaw (another effective literary element) that leads to the downfall of the character. Remember to do the following: ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
Choose works in which the main character seeks to gain something “worth having.” Identify what that something is. Describe how the character acts upon his or her desires. Tell whether the character succeeds or fails. Reveal the sacrifices and losses the character experiences.
In the concluding paragraph, restate your main ideas as they apply to your interpretation of the Critical Lens.
Essay Seven Read the following Critical Lens and write down your interpretation. “In this world goodness is destined to be defeated.” —Walker Percy, The Moviegoer, 1962 In the introductory paragraph, interpret the Critical Lens quote in your own words. This Critical Lens poses the pessimistic view that in life, goodness is doomed to be defeated by badness. The quote doesn’t imply “sometimes,” but, rather, clearly says that it is the destiny of goodness to always lose against badness. While many works would support this contention, just as many could contradict it. Also, in the introductory paragraph, you must agree or disagree with the quote. Do not attempt to take both sides of the issue because it will weaken your arguments. Most quotes can be agreed with quite easily and elicit that response; however, you may disagree with any quote. This one in particular, since, it is stated so assuredly in the negative, could readily be argued against. What is important is that you support your understanding of the lens with examples from two works of literature, which you will name in the first paragraph. The body of the essay consists of two paragraphs, one for each work that you choose. This is where you will give examples (proofs) from each work that support your understanding of the quote (that goodness is destined to be defeated by badness). For each work, you must give a literary element that can include the following examples but is not limited to these terms:
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Reading and Writing for Critical Analysis and Evaluation ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
Setting Characterization Plot Point of view Theme Symbolism
Any literary device or figurative language term is acceptable if used correctly in the context of the works. Also, you may use the same literary term for both works. Since this quote is a thematic statement because it represents a main idea, using theme as the literary element for both works would be logical and effective. Conflict is the basis of great literature; good versus evil is a common central theme of many works, and finding two works that either support the quote or refute it should not be a problem. A question to consider while writing this essay is, what does that character do that either contributes to the defeat of goodness or its victory? Secondly, is the triumph of goodness within the power of the character, or are there external forces that cause the defeat or victory? Thirdly, how does the main character react to the defeat of goodness, or, conversely, the triumph of goodness? This is a rich area to explore in terms of characterization, plot, conflict, and resolution. In the concluding paragraph, restate your main ideas as they apply to your interpretation of the Critical Lens.
Essay Eight Read the following Critical Lens and write down your interpretation. “Things can happen in some cities and the tale of them will be interesting; the same story laid in another city would be ridiculous.” —Frank Norris Introduction: Setting is an extremely important element to a story’s development. If the same plot took place in another location, the story might not seem as believable or might have less of an impact on the reader. This quote is proven true through Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird and Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter. If the settings of these stories were altered, the impact of their themes might diminish. Paragraph 1: The setting of To Kill a Mockingbird plays a significant role in the plot of the story. 1. To Kill a Mockingbird—1933, Maycomb, Alabama A. An important theme is the gap between social classes during this time. The Finches sit at the top of the social hierarchy, the Cunninghams in the middle, the Ewells at the bottom, and the black community below the Ewells. Even though many members of the black community show specific admirable qualities, because the story takes place in the 1930s, they fall at the bottom of the social ladder. This also involves a major conflict in the story because a black man, Tom Robinson, is accused of raping a white girl. Even though he is given a trial, the trial is not fair, since the members of the court have their minds made up even before they enter the courtroom. The plot of this portion of the story would not have worked if it took place today.
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CliffsTestPrep Regents English Workbook B. Not only the time period, but the specific location, which is described as a small town in the middle of nowhere, where everyone knows everyone else’s business, sets up the perfect plot for the children to find out about their neighbor, Boo Radley. The busy-body neighbors set up conflicts within the town—one being yelling at Scout and Jem because their father is defending a black man. C. Based on the time and place that this story occurs, the plot would not be as effective and the reader might not feel as much emotion for the characters involved if it took place at a different time. 2. The Scarlet Letter—Middle of the seventeenth century, Boston, Massachusetts A. An important theme of this novel is the idea of isolation. The protagonist, Hester Prynne, lives on the outskirts of a small town that has strong Puritan beliefs. Since she is shunned from society, she lives next to the woods that border the town; it is in these woods that several townspeople believe she has her meeting with the devil. B. As in To Kill a Mockingbird, setting plays a major role in this novel. Everyone in the town knows that Hester has committed the sin of adultery, and to pay for her crime, not only must she stand on a platform for hours, but she must also wear a scarlet letter A on her bosom forever. This major symbol in the novel is a continuous reminder of Hester’s sin, but later becomes significant to Hester’s finding her sense of identity. After the townspeople tell her that she can take it off, she refuses. She is no longer in internal conflict with herself, yet she has established a sense of identity, knows that she can rely upon herself, and continues to hide nothing from her child. Conclusion: In both novels, if the setting had been different, the reader might not have been able to emotionally feel a connection with the characters. Knowing that there is a significance of history behind the plot helps the reader to assume where the characters might be at that point, and helps us to identify with the characters.
Essay Nine Read the following Critical Lens and write down your interpretation. “A person is a person through other persons . . .” —Archbishop Desmond Tutu (The Right Reverend Desmond Mpilo Tutu), Hope and Suffering: Sermons and Speeches, 1983 Introduction: A person might think he knows himself, but until his persona is challenged by the interaction of another, that person may come to realize that there is much more to his character than he once knew.
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Reading and Writing for Critical Analysis and Evaluation Paragraph 1: The Glass Menagerie 1. The Glass Menagerie, by Tennessee Williams, involves a number of characters that change throughout the course of the novel due to the actions of others. A. Amanda—mother of Tom and Laura—Amanda becomes the uptight woman that she is ever since her husband left her. She continuously reflects on the memories of her past in order to compensate for the present. Amanda would not have become the person that she is if her husband had stayed. B. Laura—Amanda’s daughter—she has a slight deformity in her leg, which makes one leg shorter than the other. It is hardly noticeable, yet it is an aspect of her life that she cannot let go, that is until Jim comes into the picture. Jim helps Laura to believe that she is a normal girl who is very attractive and has much potential in life, which gives Laura a sense of hope she has never felt before. C. Tom—Amanda’s son—hides in the life of characters in movies and books because he does not like his own. He chooses to be like his father, in need of adventure and a different lifestyle, and leaves the apartment at the end of the play. Paragraph 2: Julius Caesar 2. Julius Caesar, by William Shakespeare, also shares a similar theme, in that one of the main characters, Brutus, changes the most as a person throughout the novel based on the actions of others. A. Brutus devotes his life to being a good Roman and caring for the Roman Republic. Therefore, when he is asked to join the conspiracy, which means that he will have to go against one of his good friends, Julius Caesar, in order to preserve the Roman Republic, Brutus is faced with an internal conflict. Throughout the story, Brutus doubts himself that he should be involved in this conspiracy. Yet if he continues to justify the matter that it is for the preservation of Rome, it is all worth it. B. Cassius is the leader of the conspiracy. Throughout the story he manipulates Brutus into believing what he is doing is the best option. Over and over again, Cassius justifies the situation telling Brutus that Caesar is gaining too much power too soon and plotting evidence of a note that is supposedly from the Romans, reaching out to Brutus for help. The audience knows that Cassius is up to no good, and Brutus’s character continues to change throughout the play as he learns more about Caesar and more about the conspiracy because of Cassius. Conclusion: Not only characters in literature but everyday people are changed, whether for better or worse, by others with whom they interact. “A person is a person through other persons . . .” proves to be true as evident in Amanda, Laura, and Tom in The Glass Menagerie, as well as in the character of Brutus in Julius Caesar. Every day, our interactions with others might make us think a little bit differently.
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How to Write an Essay The Comprehensive English Regents Examination is an “essay-intensive” examination. As you know, there are four sections to this exam, and in each section there is some type of essay that will be required of you. There are two persuasive essays, one essay based on poetry and prose, and a final “Critical Lens” essay that is based on a comparison of two different literary works. (See the appendix at the back of this book for some sample Critical Lens essay questions.) In addition, some of the other exams you will be taking will necessitate writing essays. To that end, this section will give you an overview on the basics of clear and effective writing. During the examination, you will not necessarily have time for all of the steps that we’ve provided here, but you will at least know the basics, and many of these steps can be done in your head—without actually writing them down. Once you have the preliminaries out of the way, it is time to tackle the specific writing assignments.
Prewriting: How to Begin a Writing Assignment Writing is a process. The formula good writers follow consists of prewriting, writing, and rewriting, or revising and editing. This allows their work to emerge in a series of small, manageable steps. Your main purpose in writing is to inform, persuade, or entertain. Defining your purpose or goal is the first step. Select a topic that is narrow enough to be explained within your page limitations. A thesis, unlike a topic, is a single statement that makes an assertion about a topic. It is usually placed somewhere in the introduction of an essay. Often, a thesis sentence will give the reader a clear overview of the essay by stating the main ideas. Generally, if you choose a topic that is interesting to you, your reader will find it interesting, too.
The Steps in Writing Although it is a process, writing doesn’t progress as neatly from one step to the next as does, for example, baking a cake or changing a tire. Roughly speaking, when you write, you do the following: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
Decide on a topic (or have a topic assigned to you). Explore ideas about the topic through thinking, reading, listening, and so on. Formulate a thesis or main idea and decide what points you want to make to support it. Select details and examples (from reading, research, personal experience). Decide on the order in which you’ll present your ideas and examples. Write a first draft; edit and revise for content, style, and writing mechanics; write a final draft.
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CliffsTestPrep Regents English Workbook At any time during this process, you may need to stop and go back several steps. For example, when you’re selecting details and examples, you may realize your topic is too broad or your thesis statement weak. Or when you’re organizing your points, you may see that the thesis you thought you were developing isn’t the one that you are developing. Often the act of writing itself generates new ideas you may want to pursue. Even as late as your final draft you may decide that the organization isn’t working, or you may spot a flaw in your argument that causes you to throw out much of what you’ve written and rework the rest. The most realistic way to view writing is not as a straight line but as a back-and-forward movement. Take that into account when deciding how long you’ll need to finish a writing assignment.
Types of Writing The writing you’re required to do in your lifetime varies—for example, timed writings and essay questions on exams (like the Comprehensive English Regents Examination); autobiographical essays for college applications; high school and college papers on a variety of subjects; and business letters, proposals, and reports related to your work. In most of your writing, you’ll be doing one of the following: ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
Describing a person, place, or thing Telling a story or recounting an incident Reporting information Providing instructions or explaining a process Arguing a position or proving a point Analyzing something—a text, theory, attitude, or event Comparing various documents
The techniques you use will overlap. For example, if you’re writing a descriptive essay about your Uncle Mark, you might narrate an incident that reveals his personality. Most—though not all—writing assignments focus on argument and analysis. But within an essay arguing a position, you might use descriptive and narrative techniques. In a paper taking a stand against capital punishment, for example, you might include a vivid description of a gas chamber, or recount the steps of an execution, or even narrate an incident. In choosing your approach to any writing task, be guided by your purpose and the best way to fulfill it.
Understanding Your Assignment If you’re given a writing assignment, fulfilling it is your main purpose. Understand what you are asked to do. In an examination question, for example, if you’re asked to analyze how an author’s techniques contribute to his theme, and if you describe the theme thoroughly but don’t discuss the techniques, then you’ve failed to fulfill the assignment. Or if in a psychology class you’re asked to compare and contrast two recent theories about selective amnesia, and you write five pages on one of the theories and only half a page on the other, you probably haven’t done what is required.
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How to Write an Essay Writing on the job is no different. For example, if you need to write a testing protocol for a new product, you should include such things as a detailed description of the testing samples and the control group, the conditions of testing, materials and equipment, all the steps of the tests, relevant formulas and equations, and the methods to be used in evaluating results. If after the testing your manager asks for a summary of the results, you should provide them as clearly, honestly, and succinctly as you can. You may need to include a brief explanation of the tests, but you won’t want to give a blow-by-blow account. Whether you’re writing in school or at work, make sure that you understand your task. Then, in planning what you’ll write, aim everything you say at achieving that purpose.
Understanding Your Audience For whom are you writing? Before you begin, think about your audience. A reader is at the other end of your writing, and you should keep that reader in mind. Student writers sometimes think that their audience is a stuffy instructor who will be impressed by big words and long sentences. But most teachers know good, clear writing when they see it. Most can distinguish between solid content and inflated trivia. If you have little to say but dress it up in overblown prose with commas in all the right places, you won’t fare as well as someone who has something to say and says it clearly, even with a few mechanical errors. The reason you’re writing and the audience you’re writing for are closely related, so be realistic. If you’re writing a letter to a surfing magazine praising a new board, you’ll use different language and a different tone than you will in an essay on Mikhail Gorbachev’s success in attempting to modernize Russia in the late 1980s. Though both audiences want to understand and be interested in what you write, they’ll expect and respond to different styles. Changing your language, style, or tone to meet specific circumstances is fine. But don’t make the mistake of thinking that you can be straightforward in the letter to the surfing magazine while you should strive to sound important in the paper on Gorbachev. Ask yourself some specific questions about your audience before you begin. Among some things to consider: ■
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Are you writing for people in a particular field, such as psychology, English literature, or genetics? Can you assume knowledge of the terminology and concepts you’ll be using, or do you need to define them in the paper? Will you need to provide extensive background information on the subject you plan to discuss, or will a brief summary be enough? What expectations does your audience have? An audience of marine biologists will have different expectations from an article on marine biology than will a general audience, for example. Are you writing for someone who insists on certain writing practices or who has pet peeves? One instructor may require a five-paragraph essay, or another may forbid the use of intentional sentence fragments. Be aware of any requirements or restrictions. On grammar, punctuation, and usage questions, if you aren’t sure about a particular instructor, you’re safest taking a conservative path.
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What is the reading level of your audience? Instructions and explanations written for fourthgraders shouldn’t include college-level vocabulary, for example. Are you writing for an audience that is likely to agree or disagree with your point of view? Consider this question if you’re writing an argumentative or editorial piece. It can make a difference in the language you select, the amount of proof you offer, and the tone you use. An editorial for a small-town paper on the importance of family values, for example, is less likely to encounter resistance from the audience than an editorial on legalizing drugs.
Guidelines for Choosing a Topic Often you’re assigned a topic to write about or asked to choose among several. When you must choose your own topic, keep in mind these points: ■
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Choose a topic appropriate to the length of your paper. Generally, students pick topics that are too broad to be adequately covered. Narrow topics lead to close observation, while broad topics lead to generalizations and sketchy development. If you’re writing a five-page paper, don’t write on the history of women’s rights; instead, write about one incident in the history of women’s rights. Even a personal or descriptive essay will be better if you choose a narrow topic—your childhood in a small town, for example, rather than your childhood; or your uncle’s barn, rather than the Midwest. Avoid a topic that will tempt you to summarize rather than to discuss or analyze. Don’t choose the plot of Macbeth but how the final scene of Macbeth illustrates the play’s theme. The second topic is narrower and less likely to lead to summary. When considering a topic, ask yourself if it can lead to a reasonable thesis. Choose a topic that interests you. If you don’t care about limiting cigarette advertising, don’t select it as a topic for a persuasive essay. You’ll have more to say and write better on something you care about. If your assignment requires research, choose a topic on which you can find material. Even when you aren’t writing a research paper, make sure that you’ve picked a subject that you can develop with sufficient details. After you’ve picked a topic, don’t be afraid to change it if it isn’t working out. Instructors would rather you write a good essay than grind out pages on something you realize was a bad choice.
Topic vs. Thesis Don’t confuse a topic with a main idea or thesis. The topic provides the subject; the thesis makes an assertion about that subject. Here are a few examples of topics that you might be assigned in school or on an exam:
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How to Write an Essay Compare and contrast X’s poem “To a Wolf” with Y’s poem “The Happy Meerkat.” Consider both theme and technique. Discuss the following statement: “No matter how much we may deplore human rights violations in China, the United States should not impose sanctions on the Chinese government.” Do you agree or disagree? Support your opinion. Analyze Shakespeare’s use of clothing imagery in King Lear. Describe an incident in your life that caused you to change an opinion or attitude. “The Civil War had much more to do with economics than with morality.” Do you agree or disagree with this statement? Support your opinion. Two of these topics (the second and fifth) ask the writer to argue a position. A sentence expressing that position is a thesis statement. A thesis statement for the second topic might be, Imposing sanctions on China would be a mistake because it would hurt the American economy, because sanctions are notoriously unsuccessful as a way to force change, and because the United States should not interfere in the internal policies of other countries. While the remaining three topics don’t ask the writer to take a position, for a good essay on any of these topics, the writer should formulate a thesis. A thesis statement for the first might be, Although both poet X and poet Y show appreciation for their subjects, poet X’s Wolf symbolizes the separation between humans and other animals, while poet Y’s Meerkat symbolizes the connection between all living things. With this thesis statement, the writer makes a point about the topic and sets up a direction for the essay.
Writing a Thesis Statement Whenever you write a paper analyzing, discussing, comparing, identifying causes or effects, or arguing a position, you should be able to write a thesis statement. You can refine and improve it as you go along, but try to begin with a one-sentence statement. A thesis statement can help you steer a straight course, avoiding the danger of digression. Make your thesis statement say something. Don’t be satisfied with weak generalities that fail to zero in on your main point. The following are examples of pseudo-thesis statements: Poets X and Y make important points about animals in their poems “To a Wolf” and “The Happy Meerkat.” People hold different opinions as to whether it is wise to impose sanctions on China because of their human rights violations. Shakespeare uses quite a bit of clothing imagery in King Lear. None of these statements provides a clear direction for an essay because the assertions they make are so vague, they are useless. A better thesis statement for the third example might be, Clothing images in King Lear reflect the development of Lear from a man blinded by appearances to a man able to face the naked truth. Remember that the creation of a thesis statement is important to the way you approach your topic, helping you direct your thinking as well as your writing.
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Avoiding Fallacies As you write, be careful to avoid logic fallacies and ideological reasoning. Logic fallacies are problems in thinking or connecting ideas. Common fallacies include: ■
Ad Hominem: Also called name-calling, this fallacy is an attack either directly or indirectly on a person. Bob can’t be right because he is an idiot.
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Bandwagon/Celebrity Appeal: This fallacy implies the reader should agree with a premise because a majority or a particularly significant person agrees with the premise. As everyone knows, this bill will help our children.
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Either/Or Reasoning: Assuming that there can be only one cause or one solution in an issue. The only way to keep our children safe is to ban video games.
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Slippery Slope: Assuming that because one minor fact is true, then a larger premise must be too, despite any further proof. Congressman Smith voted against tax increases last week; therefore, Congressman Smith will always be against tax increases.
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Ad Populum: Arguing based upon emotional appeals rather than facts. All true Americans want to ban this book.
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Circular Reasoning: Presents reasons as a restatement of the problem. There are not enough parking spaces because there are too many cars.
Ideological reasoning is the use of cultural, religious, or moral values and beliefs to prove a position. While there is nothing wrong with making personal judgments in this way, you should always be aware that your audience might not share your ideological views. To reach the greatest number of individuals you should avoid making ideological reasons the foundation of your arguments.
The Main Idea in Narratives and Personal Essays Narrative and personal essays also require a main or controlling idea to help you focus and direct your writing. For example, consider this topic: Describe an incident in your life that caused you to change an opinion or attitude. Before you begin writing, create a sentence that will both identify the incident you plan to narrate and describe the change it caused. Here are some examples of main idea statements:
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How to Write an Essay The divorce of my parents when I was seven changed my view that adults were infallible and always in control of their own lives. When I was six, my cat Edward died; and I began to mistrust the reassurances of doctors, a mistrust that has remained with me ever since. Changing high schools when I was fifteen made me realize for the first time that the fear of an experience is often worse than the reality. When you write your paper, you may decide to suggest your main idea indirectly rather than state it. But making yourself create a statement is still a good idea.
Prewriting: How to Research and Organize Once you have narrowed your topic and established a working thesis, you can start researching your essay. You may want to begin by writing what you know about the topic before you head to the library or the Internet. Generally, information that is assumed to be common knowledge does not have to be identified. However, you should identify, either by quote or citation, all specific phrasing that comes from another writer. Paraphrasing is a valuable way to summarize long passages or ideas from other writers. Write an outline to focus and develop the main ideas that support or explain your thesis. You can organize your ideas in a variety of spatial or chronological ways. If you make your outline detailed, the body of the essay should be easy to write. While a written outline can seem like extra work, it is a valuable, almost essential, key to writing a good first draft.
Finding Examples and Evidence When you have a topic, you begin thinking of what you’ll say. Write a thesis statement to organize your thinking. Before you start writing, take notes. For personal essays, write down your thoughts, observations, memories, and experiences. When analyzing a text, take notes on the significant sections or underline them. For most other essays, read materials with an eye toward finding details, examples, and illustrations to support your main idea. If you want to use quotations, write them down accurately. Remember that you’ll need to footnote tiny facts, ideas, or quotations you borrow from other sources, so be sure to include bibliographical information in your notes. Some of what you write down will probably never appear in your essay. Your notes might even include questions that occur to you as you read, possibilities you want to explore, warnings to yourself, or reminders to check further on certain points. This stage of preparing a paper is not only to ensure that you have examples and evidence but also to help you think in more detail about your topic and thesis.
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Brainstorming, Taking Notes, and Outlining Begin the process by trying free writing on the computer. You can get ideas down quickly and legibly and save them as a brainstorming file; later, you can import parts of this file into your first draft. Take notes on the computer, too, being sure to include the information you’ll need to cite references. Word-processing programs can format and place footnotes when you’re at the point of preparing your final draft, but of course you are responsible for accurately recording the sources of your information. If your writing project requires a bibliography, start a list of your references. Later you can easily add to and rearrange the list. Most programs have a feature that allows you to create a formal outline according to a style you choose, such as Roman numerals for headings, alpha characters for first-level subheadings, and so on. If you go back into your outline to add a heading or subheading, the program will automatically update your outline designations. Changing an outline on your computer is so simple that you can experiment with different organizational plans.
Using the Computer for Research With a computer, you can gain access to thousands of documents and databases, some in portable form on CD-ROMs (disks that store large amounts of information) and some directly on-line. You can call up journal and newspaper articles, abstracts, a variety of encyclopedias and dictionaries, and much more. Through the Internet (which includes the World Wide Web), you can view databases on many subjects and have access to library archival materials. The challenge is to know what there is and how to search for it. So much information is available on-line that you may feel overwhelmed and frustrated. Before you use the Internet to do serious research, it’s a good idea to get some training. How-to books and classes are available, as are Internet directories that steer you in the right direction. Once you are on-line, search systems (or search engines)—to which you enter key words—help you navigate. When you use information from electronic sources in a paper, consult a current style guide (such as the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, Fourth Edition) on the correct format for citing it in footnotes and a bibliography.
The Importance of Specific Details A frequent mistake in writing is failing to provide specific examples, evidence, or details to support an idea or thesis. In an essay about a poem, for example, it isn’t enough to say that the author’s language creates a dark, gloomy atmosphere; you must cite particular words and images that demonstrate this effect. In an essay arguing that magnet schools in cities improve education for minority students, you must provide some evidence—statistics, anecdotes, and so on. In a timed writing on the statement, We learn more from our failures than our successes, you shouldn’t merely reflect on the statement; you should cite examples from your life, or from the news, or from history. Remember that essays filled with general unsupported statements are not only unconvincing, but also uninteresting.
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Plagiarism As you take notes, be aware that when you write your paper you must cite any sources you use, so record the information you’ll need for footnotes. Consult a style guide for proper footnoting and preparation of a bibliography. You’ll be guilty of plagiarism if you don’t properly give credit for words or ideas that you borrow from others. Most people understand that they can’t steal exact words from a source, but some believe that paraphrasing—simply borrowing an idea—is acceptable. Generally, it isn’t. While you don’t need to footnote wellknown ideas such as evolution or easily accessible facts such as the date of the first moon landing, you should document less generally known ideas or opinions (for example, a news analyst’s assessment of a Supreme Court decision), and less accessible facts (such as the number of motorcycles sold in the United States in a given year). Deciding what to footnote is sometimes a gray area, but play it safe. If you have doubts, cite your source.
Quoting and Paraphrasing When should you use quotations in a paper, and when should you paraphrase information instead? If you want to make a point about an author’s language or style—as in the analysis of a literary work—use quotations. But don’t quote an entire stanza if you are going to comment on only two words, and don’t give up your responsibility to discuss a character simply by quoting a descriptive passage from a novel. If your interest is in the information a source conveys rather than in the author’s expression, consider paraphrasing (putting the information in your own words) rather than quoting, particularly if the relevant passage is long and includes material you don’t need. The question to ask is, “Why am I choosing to include this quotation?” If you have a good reason—an author’s language or tone, for example, or a particularly apt expression—go ahead. But often you’re after only the information or part of the information. Consider the following passage: Community-based policing has given rise to several important questions, among them the following: Should police officers address social problems that extend beyond particular crimes? Some experts on police reform say yes, while others say no. Although there is agreement that having police officers walk regular beats can decrease community suspicion and deter lawbreakers, the experts who are against greater involvement feel that giving police a broader responsibility by expecting them to deal with problems such as urban decay and irresponsible parenting is unrealistic and ultimately undesirable. If you’re writing about attitudes toward police reform, why not paraphrase the point that relates to your topic as shown in the following paragraph? Police-reform experts disagree about many issues, including whether or not police should involve themselves in social issues that go beyond their direct responsibility to deter crime and apprehend lawbreakers.
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CliffsTestPrep Regents English Workbook Don’t pad a paper with quotations to add to its length (you’ll irritate the instructor) and don’t quote heavily to prove that you’ve read a source and have evidence for your points. Paraphrasing works just as well. One caution, however: Paraphrasing a source requires correct citation (footnoting) just as quotation does.
The Writing Assignment All assignments are not identical, and you can use different strategies as you approach each writing task. The main purpose of your project may be research, argument, analysis, or narrative. In each of these areas you can learn some basic skills that will make the work easier.
The Research Paper Don’t regard a research paper as unlike other writing assignments. As in other essays, you should have a topic, a thesis, an introduction, good organization, unified and coherent paragraphs, transitions, and so on. A research paper should not consist of footnoted facts loosely strung together. However, unlike other essays, a research paper depends on the use and citation of several sources of information, such as reference books, books related to your subject, relevant journal and magazine articles, speeches, and lectures. During the information-gathering period, get to know your library well. If available, check electronic databases. Learn how to locate a variety of materials that will give you a thorough (not one-sided) view of your topic. (See the earlier section, “Using the Computer for Research.”) When you do find information, take careful notes that include bibliographical information about your source. Practices for footnoting and preparing a bibliography vary. Therefore, when you’re assigned a research paper, ask your instructor to recommend a style guide. Several general guides are available, as well as more specific ones designed for particular fields, among them language and literature, biology, business, history, and law.
Essays Arguing a Position from a Single Text If your assignment is to write about a single text—for example, to take a position on an article in favor of regulating the Internet—read the text more than once. Look up terms you’re uncertain about. Mark points that seem unclear or issues that may require research, and include outside research if allowed by the assignment. (If you do use material from other sources, be sure to cite them, just as you would in a research paper.) Determine the strongest and weakest arguments in the article. After studying the text carefully, decide whether you agree or disagree with the author’s position. Remember that when you write your paper, you should provide a brief, fair summary of that position, whether you’re agreeing with it or not. In an argumentative essay you must support your own viewpoint and answer the opposition.
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Essays Analyzing a Literary Work When you’re asked to analyze a literary work, or one aspect of a literary work, stay close to the text. Read it and, if possible, reread it. Your first job is to interpret meaning, which can take some time. Once you feel comfortable with your interpretation, take notes or mark the text with an eye to finding support for your topic and thesis. You’ll be using quotations in your paper, so indicate those passages or lines that might be particularly effective. Generally, when you write an essay on a nonliterary text, you focus on content, concentrating on the author’s information and the quality of his or her arguments. When you write about a literary text, however, you must also pay close attention to the author’s technique. If you don’t already know such terms as meter, image, metaphor, simile, diction, flat character, and irony, check a glossary of literary terms. In your notes include specific words and images from the text, observations about structure (a poem’s rhyme scheme, for example, or a novel’s subplot), point of view, and tone. Remember, however, that when you discuss formal features like these in your essay, you should relate them to a point you are making, usually about the author’s theme or purpose. Don’t risk having your reader ask, “So what if the rhyme scheme changes in the last stanza?”
Narrative, Descriptive, and Autobiographical Essays For some essays, you’ll use your own thoughts, observations, and experiences, without reference to a text. But as with essays of argument and analysis, you need to gather information to develop your main ideas, and taking notes is a good way to do it. Before beginning an essay describing your Aunt Gladys, for example, write down all the details you can about her, including any anecdotes that reveal her characteristics. At this point don’t worry about organizing your observations. Remember that you’re gathering information. If you haven’t yet written a sentence stating a main idea, try to do so now. (For example, Although Aunt Gladys prides herself on being no trouble to anyone, she finds ways to get everyone in the family to do what she wants, or Aunt Gladys looks like a little old lady, but she acts like a teenage girl.) Without a controlling idea, your essay will be a list of details with nothing to unify them or give them purpose. Soon you’ll be filling out college applications. When it asks for an essay about yourself, your purpose will be to describe the traits, experiences, interests, achievements, and goals that show you’re a good candidate for college admission. First, take notes about yourself—whatever you can think of. Be sure to consider things that emphasize your individuality. In going over your notes later, you may decide not to include the no-hit Little League softball game you pitched when you were nine, or every fast-food job you’ve ever had; but by making a complete list, you can look for patterns that will help you organize your essay. When it comes time to put your points in order, throw out unnecessary details, consolidating and summarizing—for example, mentioning that you held five fast-food jobs (but not specifying each employer) while attending high school and becoming class valedictorian.
Writing A common misconception about writing is that the first draft must be perfect. However, even excellent writers create multiple drafts before they feel content with their writing. In the first draft, focus on introductions, connecting ideas within paragraphs, and conclusions.
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CliffsTestPrep Regents English Workbook A good introduction catches the reader’s attention and then provides a general orientation to the topic. You can interest the reader by using quotations, anecdotes, questions, or addressing the reader directly. Paragraphs develop a single idea in a series of connected sentences. A unified paragraph stays focused on a single idea and is coherent and well developed. Your final statement should bring all of your points to their logical conclusion. You can leave the reader pondering your essay by using a quotation, a reference back to a point or question made in the introduction, or a story that emphasizes your thesis.
Working from a Thesis Statement The first thing to look at when you’re ready to organize your paper is your main idea or thesis statement. Putting yourself in a reader’s place, imagine how you would expect to see the main idea developed. Then look at the notes you’ve taken. If you used your thesis statement as a guide in gathering information, you should see a pattern. Look at the following thesis statement: Imposing sanctions on China would be a mistake because it would hurt the American economy, because sanctions are notoriously unsuccessful as a way to force change, and because the United States should not interfere in the internal policies of other countries. This statement suggests that the paper will be divided into three main parts; it even indicates an order for those sections. When you go through your notes, decide where each note most logically fits. For example, a note about U.S. clothing manufacturers’ increasing use of Chinese labor would fit into section one, and a note about the failure of sanctions in the Middle East in section two. Of course, things aren’t usually this neat. Your thesis statement might not be this precise, or the kind of essay you’re writing might not lend itself to such an easy division. But starting from the moment you look at your topic and decide on your main idea, you should be thinking about ways to develop it. This thinking leads you to your organizing principle. A review of some common methods of organization will help you. Remember, however, to avoid an overly rigid approach. After you begin to write, you may realize that your plan needs to be changed. Writing itself often generates new ideas or suggests a different direction.
Spatial or Chronological Organization Some topics lend themselves to organization based on space or time. A descriptive essay might work well if you begin with a distant view and move closer—first describe how a barn looks from the road, for example, then describe the view you see when you stand directly in front of the barn, then describe the view (and smell and sounds) when standing inside the barn door, and completing your description with what you see when you climb the ladder into the loft. In the narration of an event and in some kinds of technical writing—describing a process, for example— you write about events in the order they occur. Often dividing your material into stages avoids the “and then, and then, and then!” effect. If you were writing about making a ceramic vase, you could divide the
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How to Write an Essay process into three main stages—selecting and preparing the clay, forming and refining the shape of the vase on the potter’s wheel, and glazing the piece and firing it in a kiln. The detailed steps in making the vase could then be organized sequentially under these sections.
Dividing a Subject into Categories Just as you can divide a process into stages, you can divide a subject into categories. When you look over your notes, and using your thesis statement as a guide, see if logical groupings emerge. Look at the following topic and thesis statement, written by a fictional student: TOPIC THESIS
Write a paper addressing an environmental concern and suggesting ideas for a solution. The United States is losing its forests, and the solution is everyone’s responsibility.
Note that the second half of this thesis statement is weak: the solution is everyone’s responsibility is a vague assertion. In looking over his notes, the student quickly identifies those that relate to the first part of the thesis statement (Less than 1 percent of U.S. old-growth forests remain, U.S. consumption of wood is up 3 percent since 1930, and so on). However, when he looks at the rest of his notes, he finds he has everything from Logging bans have been effective in many areas to Don’t use disposable diapers to Agricultural waste can be effectively processed to make building materials that provide excellent insulation. At this point he decides to create categories. He finds that many notes are related to simple, everyday actions that can help reduce wood and paper consumption (no disposable diapers, e-mail instead of memos, cloth bags instead of paper bags, recycling newspapers, etc.). Still others cover alternatives for wood, such as agricultural waste, engineered wood manufactured by the forest products industry, the use of steel studs in construction rather than wooden ones, a method of wall forming called “rammed earth construction,” and so on. Then he notices that several notes relate to government actions—logging bans, wilderness designations, Forest Service reforms, etc. He decides to use two general classifications as a principle of organization: I. Problem A. Old-growth forests have virtually disappeared B. U.S. consumption of wood up 3 percent since 1930 II. Solutions A. Consumer actions B. Alternatives to wood C. Government regulations He may decide to change the order of the classifications when he writes his paper, but for now he has a principle of organization.
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CliffsTestPrep Regents English Workbook If some notes don’t fit into these classifications, he may want to add another category, or add some subsections. For example, if several notes deal with actions by major conservation groups, he may want to add a division under Solutions called Conservation group activities. Or, if he finds some notes relating to disadvantages of wood alternatives, he may add some subtopics under B; for example, price, stability, public perception. Dividing material into categories is one of the most basic forms of organization. Make sure the categories are appropriate to the purpose of your paper and that you have sufficient information under each one.
Organizing Essays of Comparison Sometimes students have problems with topics that ask them to compare and contrast two things. After gathering information on each thing, they fail to focus on the similarities and dissimilarities between them. When your topic involves comparison, you can organize in either of two ways. First, you can discuss each thing separately and then include a section in which you draw comparisons and contrasts between them. With this organization, if you were comparing and contrasting two poems, you would write first about one—covering, for example, theme, language, images, tone, and rhyme scheme—and then about the other, covering the same areas. In a third section you would make a series of statements comparing and contrasting major aspects of the poems. If you choose this method, make your separate discussions of the poems parallel—that is, for the second poem, address points in the same order you used for the first poem. Also, in the third section of the paper, avoid simply repeating what you said in sections one and two. A second way of organizing requires you to decide first which aspects of the poems you want to compare and contrast (theme, language, imagery, and so on) and then to structure your essay according to these. For example, if you begin with theme, you state the themes of both poems and compare them. Then you compare the language of the two poems, then the imagery, then the tone, and so on. Two advantages of this type of organization are, first, you are forced to focus on similarities and dissimilarities and less likely to include material that isn’t pertinent, and, second, you avoid repetition by eliminating a separate compare-and-contrast section. You can also combine these two types of organization. For example, you may want to discuss each poem’s theme separately, and then move into a point-by-point comparison of the other aspects of the poem (language, imagery, tone, and so on).
Inductive or Deductive Patterns of Organization In a logical argument, the pattern in which you present evidence and then draw a general conclusion is called inductive. This term can also be used to describe a method of approaching your material, particularly in an essay presenting an argument. You are using this method in an essay even when you state the general conclusion first and present the supporting evidence in successive paragraphs. In fact, in essays it is customary to begin with the general conclusion as a thesis statement:
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How to Write an Essay EVIDENCE
The student action committee failed to achieve a quorum in all six of its last meetings. During the past year, the student action committee has proposed four plans for changing the grievance procedure and has been unable to adopt any of them. According to last month’s poll in the student newspaper, 85 percent of the respondents had not heard of the student action committee. Two openings on the committee have remained unfilled for eight months because no one has applied for membership. CONCLUSION The student action committee is an ineffective voice for students at this university. (Note: In an essay, this would be a thesis statement.) Another type of organization borrowed from logical argument is called deductive. With this pattern you begin with a generalization and then apply it to specific instances. In a timed writing, you might be given a statement such as It’s better to be safe than sorry or Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and then asked to agree or disagree, providing examples that support your view. With such essays, you aren’t proving or disproving the truth of a statement, but offering an opinion and then supporting it with examples. For example, if you begin with a generalization such as Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, you could cite instances such as different standards for human beauty in different cultures, or different views of beauty in architecture from era to era. You could also use examples from your own experience, such as your brother’s appreciation of desert landscapes contrasted to your boredom with them.
Order of Examples and Evidence Within any overall pattern of organization, you must decide on the specific order of your examples and evidence. The best plan is to save your most important point or most convincing piece of evidence for last. The last position is the most emphatic, and a reader will expect you to build to your strongest point. Saving the best for last isn’t a rule; you must decide, based on your thesis and the evidence and examples you’ve collected, which order works best. But do remember that you want to avoid having your essay trail off with a trivial example or weak argument.
Connecting Paragraphs in an Essay Your essay should move from paragraph to paragraph smoothly, each point growing out of the preceding one. If you are shifting direction or moving to a different point, prepare your reader with a transition. Achieving continuity in your essay is similar to achieving continuity in a paragraph.
Outlining Creating an outline, either a formal or an informal one, helps you stay with your organizational plan. Sometimes an outline helps you see problems in your original plan, and you can eliminate them before you’ve spent time writing.
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CliffsTestPrep Regents English Workbook If you prefer writing papers without an outline, try an experiment. Create an outline after a paper is finished to see if your organization is clear and logical. This exercise may make you decide that outlining is a good idea.
Informal Outlines An informal outline can be little more than a list of your main points. You can refine it by following each main point with notations of the evidence or examples that support it. You are, in effect, grouping your notes. A simple outline like this is often all you need. It is especially valuable for timed writings or essay exams. Thinking your approach through before you begin—and jotting your thoughts down—will help you avoid rambling and moving away from the assignment.
Formal Outlines You may want to prepare a more formal outline. Sometimes you may even be asked to submit an outline with a writing assignment. Following are a few guidelines: Use Roman numerals for main topics. Alternate letters and Arabic numerals for subtopics. Indent subtopics. I. A. B. 1. 2. a. b. Make outline topics parallel in form. Make subtopics parallel in form also. For example, if you use a sentence for the first topic, use sentences for all subsequent topics, but if you use a noun for the first subtopic, use a noun for the following ones. Watch the logic of your outline. The main topics generally indicate the basic structure of your essay. The second level of your outline (A, B, C) covers the major ideas that contribute to the larger units. The next level of subtopics is for narrower points related to these ideas. Don’t stick irrelevant ideas in your outline under the guise of subtopics. Make sure each element logically fits under its heading, or you’re defeating the purpose of an outline. Each topic and subtopic should have at least one mating topic or subtopic, that is, no I without a II, no A without a B, and so on. Remember that topics and subtopics are divisions of your subject, and you can’t divide something into one part. If your outline shows solitary topics or subtopics, reevaluate to see whether you are misplacing or poorly stating your headings. The information should perhaps be worked into an existing larger category or divided into two topics or subtopics.
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Sentence Outlines and Topic Outlines In a sentence outline, all elements are stated in complete sentences. In a topic outline, the elements may be presented as single words or as phrases. Study the following examples.
Sentence Outline I. Many high school classes do not prepare students for large university classes. A. Nontracked high school classes don’t challenge more able students to achieve at the highest level. 1. Less competition leads some students to “get by” rather than excel. 2. Inflated grading of good students in nontracked classes can lead to false expectations. B. High school classes are not designed to encourage individual responsibility, which is required in large university classes. 1. Required attendance in high school may lead students to react to less rigid attendance requirements by cutting classes. 2. High school teachers assign daily homework and reading assignments, whereas university professors generally make long-term assignments. 3. High school teachers frequently spend more time with individual students than do professors in large universities. II. Some high schools offer programs to help students prepare for university classes.
Topic Outline I. Lack of preparation of high school students for university classes A. Nontracked high school classes 1. Less competition 2. Mated grades B. Less individual responsibility in high school classes 1. Required attendance 2. Homework and daily assignments 3. Individual attention from teachers II. Programs to prepare high school students for university classes
Drafting First drafts are usually preliminary attempts to put content on paper. (Remember, this section presents you with the basics of writing skills. You will not have time to actually write drafts on the English Regents examination.) Few writers expect first drafts to resemble a finished product. Your first draft may well be a mixture of planning and improvising—letting yourself move in a direction you hadn’t originally intended. Because writing is not a straightforward process, even when you begin a first draft you may make changes in your thesis statement or in your organizational plan. These changes may occur in your
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CliffsTestPrep Regents English Workbook second draft; in this draft you may need to move paragraphs around, add or eliminate content, rewrite the thesis, and tighten the focus of the paper by ensuring that your paragraphs are unified and coherent. Computers and word processors have made the drafting process physically easier. Some writers do all their editing and revision on the screen, printing out only final versions. Others find it useful to print out drafts and save sections that have been removed in case they will be returned to the text. Other writers may print out a draft and write in the revisions until each sentence is perfect, but this kind of labor is relatively uncommon. Whichever method a writer uses, it doesn’t eliminate the difficult and thoughtful part of drafting—deciding what changes to make. Experienced writers often find that after the shape and content of the paper have been determined in a second draft, in the third draft they reword phrases and sentences. The exception to the rule about first drafts is in timed writing assignments like the English Regent examination, for which you may have time for only one draft. Spend a few moments planning your answer, noting examples you intend to use, and then move ahead. Graders of these assignments are looking for substance, support for the thesis, and clear organization.
Suggestions for Introductions An introduction should lead naturally into the rest of your paper and be appropriate to its subject and tone. Some suggestions for openings follow, but use judgment in applying them. Although beginning with an anecdote can be effective for some papers, don’t force one where it doesn’t belong. A story about your indecisive father is not the best way to begin a paper analyzing the character of Hamlet. ■
Use a relevant quotation from the work you are discussing: “I am encompassed by a wall, high and hard and stone, with only my brainy nails to tear it down. And I cannot do it.” Kerewin Holmes, one of the main characters in Keri Hulme’s novel The Bone People, describes herself as both physically and emotionally alone in a tower she has built by the New Zealand Sea. Throughout the novel Hulme uses concrete images—the tower, muteness, physical beatings, the ocean—to suggest her characters’ isolation from each other and the community around them.
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Provide background or context for your thesis statement: Until the second half of this century, Americans spent the country’s natural resources freely. They mined for minerals, diverted rivers, replaced wilderness with cities and towns. In the process they cut down forests that had been in place for thousands of years. Now, as the twenty-first century approaches, the reality that progress has its price is obvious to almost everyone. Only ten percent of old-growth forests in the United States remain intact, with demand for wood products expected to grow by fifty percent in the next fifty years. The country is in danger of losing its forests altogether unless citizens pursue solutions from everyday recycling to using wood alternatives to actively supporting government regulations.
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Ask a question that leads to your thesis statement: Is the United States still a country where the middle class thrives? Strong evidence suggests that the traditional American view of a successful middle class is fading. At the very least, the
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How to Write an Essay prospects for someone who stands in the economic middle have significantly changed since the 1970s. Twenty-five years ago, middle-class people expected to own their own homes in the suburbs and send their children to college. Today, for many people, these expectations have become more like distant dreams. Two factors—a growing disparity in wages within the labor force and rising prices for real estate and goods—suggest that the middle class is a less comfortable place to be than it was for the previous generation. ■
Begin with a relevant anecdote that leads to your thesis statement: Doug was the star in my high school senior class. He captained the football team, dated the bestlooking girls, charmed the teachers, and managed to get As and Bs seemingly without studying. When he headed off to a big Midwestern university, we weren’t surprised. But when he was home again a year later on academic probation, many of us wondered what could have happened. Doug told me candidly that his year at the university was far removed from anything he’d experienced in high school. Quite simply, his small, noncompetitive high school classes hadn’t prepared him for a large, impersonal university where the professors didn’t know his name, let alone his role as a big man on campus. I believe programs to help students like Doug make the transition from high school to college could help reduce the high failure rate among college freshmen.
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Speak directly to your readers. Ask them to imagine themselves in a situation you create: Imagine being escorted into a room and asked to disrobe every time you want to take an airplane trip. Picture someone in a uniform grilling you about your background or even hooking you up to a lie detector. Such scenarios seem impossible in America, but experts agree that the United States may be forced to take extreme measures to combat increasing domestic terrorism.
Your own particular topic may suggest to you any number of creative beginnings. Try to go beyond the obvious. For example, which of the following two openings for an essay on the qualities of a good mate is more likely to catch a reader’s interest? STUDENT 1 STUDENT 2
It is important to look for many qualities in the person you choose to spend your life with. Finding a mate is hard enough. Finding a mate you’re happy with may seem close to impossible.
The Paragraph A paragraph develops one idea with a series of logically connected sentences. Most paragraphs function as small essays themselves, each with a main topic (stated or implied) and several related sentences that support it. How many paragraphs do you need in your paper? That depends on what you have to say. The idea that an essay should consist of five paragraphs—an introduction, three paragraphs of examples, and a conclusion—is much too rigid, though students first learning to write are sometimes taught this. You may well have more than three examples or points to make, and you may have an example or point that requires several paragraphs of development in itself. Don’t limit yourself. Let your particular topic and supporting points guide you in creating your paragraphs.
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Paragraph Length Paragraphs vary in length. For example, short paragraphs (one to three sentences) are used in newspaper stories where the emphasis is on reporting information without discussion, or in technical writing where the emphasis is on presenting facts such as statistics and measurements without analysis. Written dialogue also consists of short paragraphs, with a new paragraph for each change of speaker. In an essay, a short paragraph can also be effectively used for dramatic effect or transition: But the reconciliation was never to take place. Her grandmother died as Jane was driving home from the airport. Generally, however, avoid a series of very short paragraphs in your essays. They suggest poor development of an idea. On the other hand, paragraphs that are half a page or more in length are difficult for most readers, who like to see a subject divided into shorter segments. Look carefully at long paragraphs to see whether you have gone beyond covering one idea or are guilty of repetition, wordiness, or rambling. Don’t arbitrarily split a long paragraph in half by indenting a particular sentence, however. Make sure that each paragraph meets the requirement of a single main idea with sentences that support it.
Paragraph Unity A unified paragraph is one that focuses on one idea and one idea only. Look at the following example of a paragraph that lacks unity: Identification of particular genes can lead to better medicine. For example, recently scientists identified a defective gene that appears to cause hemochromatosis, or iron overload. Iron overload is fairly easily cured if it is recognized and treated early, but currently it is often misdiagnosed because it mimics more familiar conditions. The problem is that when not treated in time, iron overload leads to a variety of diseases, from diabetes to liver cancer. The identification of the faulty gene can prevent misdiagnosis by allowing physicians, through a screening test, to identify patients who carry it and treat them before the condition becomes too advanced. It is interesting that most people don’t realize the exact role of iron in the body. They know that it is important for their health, but few are aware that only about ten percent of the iron in food is normally absorbed by the small intestine. Most of the rest is tied up in hemoglobin, which carries oxygen from the lungs. The first sentence of the paragraph presents the main idea that identification of genes leads to improved medical care. This idea is developed by the example of how the identification of a gene causing iron overload can lead to better diagnosis and early treatment. In the italicized sentence the paragraph begins to wander. It is a topic sentence for a different paragraph, one about the role of iron in the body and not about a benefit of genetic research. Sometimes a sentence or two buried in the middle of a paragraph can break its unity, as in the following example:
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How to Write an Essay Moving out of my parents’ house and into an apartment didn’t bring me the uncomplicated joy that I had expected. First of all, I had to struggle to make the rent every month, and the landlord was much less understanding than my parents. Then I realized I had to do my own laundry, clean up the place now and then, and fix my own meals. One nice thing about my mother is that she is an excellent cook. She even attended a French cooking school before she married my father. It’s true that I liked the greater freedom I had in my apartment—no one constantly asking me what time I’d be home, no one nagging me about cleaning up my room or raking the front lawn—but I wasn’t thrilled with spending most of a Saturday getting rid of a cockroach infestation, or Sunday night doing three loads of smelly laundry. Notice how the italicized sentences interrupt the flow of the paragraph, which is really about the down side of leaving home and not about the writer’s mother. To test the unity of your paragraphs, locate your topic sentence (if you have left it unstated, be clear on your paragraph’s main idea) and then test the other sentences to see if they are developing that particular idea or if they are wandering off in another direction.
Paragraph Coherence Along with developing a single idea, a paragraph should be well organized. You can use many of the same principles—chronology, inductive and deductive patterns, and so on—that you use to organize complete essays. Once you’ve decided on the order of your details, make sure the connections between sentences in the paragraph are clear. The smooth, logical flow of a paragraph is called paragraph coherence. Write each sentence with the previous one in mind.
Connecting Sentences Through Ideas Connect your sentences through their content, by picking up something from one and carrying it into the next. Follow a sentence that makes a general point with a specific, clear illustration of that point. Look at the following example: The gap in pay between people with basic skills and people without them seems to be widening. In one comparison, the pay difference between women of varied mathematical skills had grown from $.93 an hour in 1978 to $1.71 an hour in 1986. Here, the second sentence is a clear illustration of the point made in the first sentence. But look at how coherence can be lost in a paragraph: The gap in pay between people with basic skills and people without them seems to be widening. Women are now playing a more important role in the work force than they have since World War II, when many had to fill the positions of men who were overseas. The pay difference between women of varied mathematical skills has grown considerably, from $.93 an hour in 1978 to $1.71 an hour in 1986.
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CliffsTestPrep Regents English Workbook In this example, the second sentence is not clearly connected to the first. Sentence three returns to the subject, but the continuity of the idea has been weakened. You can also use one sentence to reflect or comment on the previous sentence, as in the following example: The idea that in America hard work leads to financial success has been one of our most successful exports. For decades immigrants have arrived on American soil with a dream that here they can have what was impossible in their home countries, where they were limited by class structure or few opportunities. Be sure in reviewing your paragraph that such reflections logically follow from the previous statement. Here, immigrants arriving with the preconceived notion that they will succeed is tied to the point in the first sentence that the American dream has been a successful export. You can also connect sentences by asking a question and following it with an answer or making a statement and following it with a question: Why should the government invest in research? Research leads to technological advances that create employment, as was shown in the years following World War II. Polls indicate that many Americans favor regulation of the Internet. Are they willing to pay both with their tax dollars and their freedoms? The sentences in these two examples are linked by words as well as by ideas. In the first example, the word research has been picked up from the question and repeated in the answer. In the second example, the pronoun they in the question has its antecedent (Americans) in the previous statement.
Connecting with Words and Phrases Achieving paragraph coherence by connecting ideas is your first step. But, as indicated in the last two examples, words and phrases can help strengthen the connection between sentences: ■
Use a pronoun whose antecedent appears in the previous sentence: Gabriel Garcia Marquez suspends the laws of reality in his novels. He creates bizarre and even magical situations that reveal character in surprising ways.
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Repeat a key word or phrase: The idea of a perfect society, though never realized, continues to intrigue political philosophers. None of these philosophers seem to agree on where perfection lies.
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Use a synonym: According to my research, physical beauty is still considered a more important asset for women than for men. Looks are everything, according to several girls I spoke to, while the boys I interviewed felt that their athletic prowess and social status were at least as important as their appearance.
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Use word patterns, such as first, second, third, and so on: The reasons for the dean’s announcing his decision today are clear. First, students will recognize that he is listening to their concerns. Second, faculty will applaud the end of a disruptive period of indecision. Third, wealthy and influential alumni, though not particularly pleased by all the details of the plan, will be overjoyed that the controversy will be off the front page of the paper.
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Use transitional words and phrases. Many words and phrases signal connections between sentences in a paragraph or between paragraphs in a paper. Look at the italicized words in the following sentences: The main character worships her. Later, his adoration turns to hatred. The church stood at the top of the hill. Below stretched miles of orchards. She treated him well. For example, she bought him a car and new clothes. The product promised he’d grow new hair. But all he grew was a rash. Hamlet disdained Ophelia. As a result, she killed herself. Elizabeth was angry at Darcy. In fact, she wanted nothing to do with him. The plan is too expensive. Furthermore, it won’t work. No one volunteered to help. In other words, no one cared.
In the preceding examples, the italicized words or phrases explicitly connect the second sentence to the first by creating a particular relationship. Vary the transitional words you use. Following is a list of words classified according to the relationships they suggest: Time or place: above, across from, adjacent to, afterward, before, behind, below, beyond, earlier, elsewhere, farther on, here, in the distance, near by, next to, opposite to, to the left, to the right Example: for example, for instance, specifically, to be specific Contrast: but, however, nevertheless, on the contrary, on the other hand Similarity: similarly, in the same way, equally important Consequence: accordingly, as a result, consequently, therefore Emphasis: indeed, in fact, of course Amplification: and, again, also, further, furthermore, in addition, moreover, too Restatement: in other words, more simply stated, that is, to clarify Summary and conclusion: altogether, finally, in conclusion, in short, to summarize
Conclusions How should you end your paper? Writing a proper conclusion is like tying a ribbon around a gift package. It’s the last thing you do, but it also gives your final effort a finishing touch. If your ending works, your reader will feel satisfied.
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What to Avoid Before you can write your conclusion, you should know what to avoid. Here are some common errors: ■
Don’t introduce a new topic: Let us also look at the problem of regulating the automotive industry to achieve better gas mileage. (This would look odd appearing in an essay about the high consumption of wood products.)
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Don’t trail off with a weak statement or a statement leaving your reader up in the air: The Internet, free of regulation, has opened a world of information and ideas to everyone. Children enjoy learning at the computer.
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Don’t simply repeat your thesis or main idea in the same words: Thus, as stated earlier, clothing imagery shows the changes in King Lear throughout the play.
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Don’t apologize for or suggest doubts about your thesis: For a variety of reasons, middle-class expectations in the 1990s differ from those in the 1970s. It is possible, however, that the difference is not particularly illuminating about life in the United States.
You may use a brief concluding sentence instead of a formal conclusion in a simple or short paper (up to five pages, for example). Formal conclusions can sometimes be superfluous and even insulting to the reader’s intelligence, particularly if the conclusion is a long summary of what he or she just read. Instead, end your paper with your best point, using a strong final sentence.
Suggestions for Conclusions The two most important things a conclusion should do is give your readers a sense of completion and leave them with a strong impression. You can do this with a single statement or with a paragraph. If you do write a concluding paragraph, consider these possibilities: ■
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End with an appropriate quotation: Throughout the novel the characters suffer both from their isolation and from their attempts to end it. Kerewin burns her tower, Joe beats his son and goes to prison, and Simon—who barely survives the beating—must painfully find his way back to those he loves. Recurring images dramatize their journeys, which end in a reconciliation between being alone and being part of a community. Kerewin describes the home that will now take the place of her lonely tower: “I decided on a shell-shape, a regular spiral of rooms expanding around the decapitated Tower . . . privacy, apartness, but all connected and all part of the whole.” Notice that in this example the writer also pulls loose ends together and briefly refers to the thesis.
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Without directly repeating your thesis, come full circle by relating the final paragraph to a point you made in your introduction: Preserving old-growth forests and finding substitutes for wood should concern everyone who cares about the environment. The days when Americans could view this country as an unlimited provider of resources are as gone as roaming herds of buffalo and pioneers in covered wagons.
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End with a story related to your thesis: On a recent trip to the airport, I stood at the ticket counter behind an angry woman. It seems she’d forgotten her photo ID and was being told by the attendant that she couldn’t fly without it. After calling the clerk a storm trooper and threatening to sue the airline, she turned to me indignantly. “You tell me. Do I look like the kind of person who would blow up a plane?” I didn’t answer, since the question seemed rhetorical. I wondered, though, how in the future this woman would react to a fifteen-minute interview about herself, or to a uniformed attendant patting her down.
Another way to conclude a paper is to summarize your points. But because summaries aren’t particularly interesting conclusions, consider one only if your paper is fairly long and if one would be helpful to your reader. Keep summaries brief and avoid wishy-washy final sentences, such as For all these reasons, the Internet should not be regulated.
Revising and Editing After the review is completed, edit and revise the essay. Editing, which can be done with most computers and word processors, involves looking at the grammatical and mechanical content of your work. Revising means looking not only at grammar, but also the overall effect of the essay. Editing and revising ensure that the final draft is appropriate for the assignment and audience, grammatically and mechanically correct, well organized and supported, and well crafted.
Titles While you’re writing an essay, if you have a good idea for a title, write it down. But often the best time to choose a title is when you’ve completed a first draft and read it over. You’ll have a more complete picture of your essay. Be creative, but don’t overdo it. For example, if you’re writing a paper about deforestation, “Knock on Wood” might seem clever, but it doesn’t accurately fit the topic. Use good judgment when you choose a title. Consider the tone of your essay and your audience. “No More Mr. Nice Guy” might be a good title for a personal essay on the loss of your gullibility, but think twice before using it as the title of your analytical paper on Shakespeare’s character Macbeth. (It’s true, however, that one instructor who had received dozens of papers with unimaginative titles reacted well to the student who called hers “Dial M for Murder: The Character of Macbeth.”) The best advice when choosing a title is to take the middle road. Avoid both dullness and strained cleverness. Consider a good quotation from a work you are writing about, an effective phrase from your own essay, or an appropriate figure of speech:
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CliffsTestPrep Regents English Workbook “Sleep No More: The Role of Macbeth’s Conscience” RATHER THAN “Macbeth’s Conscience” “I’m Nobody: Finding Emily Dickinson in Her Poetry” RATHER THAN “Emily Dickinson and Her Poetry” “Gaining Safety or Losing Freedom: The Debate over Airport Security Measures” RATHER THAN “Airport Security Measures” “Only Skin Deep?” RATHER THAN “The Importance of Beauty to Today’s Woman” “Fit to Be Tried: An Examination of the McNaughton Rule” RATHER THAN “Judging Legal Sanity”
Reviewing the First Draft When you read your first draft, you will probably make your most extensive revisions. Here are a few suggestions that can help you in reviewing your first draft: ■
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If possible, leave some time between writing the first draft and reviewing it. Your objectivity will improve. Try reading your paper aloud to yourself; sometimes your ear catches problems your eye misses. Ask someone to read your draft and offer suggestions. Choose a reader you can trust to be honest and fair. And remember: You are looking for an objective opinion, not simply reassurance. Judge your reader’s suggestions carefully, and decide for yourself their value, and whether or not to act on them. Remember that nothing is unchangeable. Until preparation of your final draft, you can change your thesis, your organization, your emphasis, your tone, and so on. A review of your first draft should not be limited to minor mechanical errors.
Writing and Editing a Draft The computer allows you to produce a legible first draft that’s easy to change by using a few basic functions, such as delete, insert, merge, block, and move. When you try making changes to a handwritten draft, on the other hand, you can end up with something so messy it’s indecipherable. If you need to make changes on your English Regents essays, try to be neat and write your changes legibly. If you want to change a word-processed draft but aren’t certain whether you’ll want to keep the changes, save both your original and your revised drafts under different file names and decide later which you want to use or import parts of one into the other. You can also re-order the paragraphs in a paper with a few keystrokes. You can do much of your editing directly on the screen. If you think of a better way to say what you’ve just said, make the change immediately and move on. For more global editing, however, many writers like to print out sections or complete drafts, mark them up by hand, and then go back to the computer to input the changes. This method has advantages. Working on the screen limits you to a small section of
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How to Write an Essay text; scrolling back and forth in the document can be confusing, and it’s difficult to get a beginning-toend picture of what you’ve written. Another advantage of printing out your document is that it forces you to slow down and read carefully. Sometimes, because you can write so quickly on a computer, your fingers may get ahead of your thoughts. Remember that good writing requires deliberation and judgment, and that you should always review a computer draft closely.
Spell-Checking, Grammar-Checking, and Search-and-Replace Functions A spell-check function is useful for catching misspelled words, typos, and accidental repetitions (such as the the). But be careful. The checker won’t signal a word that is actually a word, even if it isn’t the one you intended—for example, when you inadvertently type form for from. Spell-checking also doesn’t distinguish between homonyms, so if you have trouble with its and it’s, it won’t help you. Consider the spell-checker as an aid, not a replacement, for your own careful proofreading. Unfortunately, on the English Regents exam, the essay is handwritten, so you’re left to your own spelling skills. Grammar or style-checkers require even more caution because grammar and style are less clear-cut than spelling. Many writers don’t use these functions at all, and unless you already have a good grasp of grammar, they can be confusing or misleading. For example, the checker will catch pronoun agreement and reference errors, but not dangling participles or faulty parallelism. Some checkers flag possible homonym confusions, usage problems (literal used incorrectly, for example), and passive constructions, but they also signal every sentence beginning with But, all contractions, and every sentence ending with a preposition—“errors” that current usage generally permits. If you use a checking function, do so critically. Don’t automatically change a passive construction, or restructure a sentence ending with a preposition, for example, simply because the checker flags it. A search-and-replace feature in word-processing programs lets you correct a particular error throughout your paper automatically. If you find you’ve misspelled a person’s name, you can spell it correctly and ask the program to locate every instance of the name in your 25-page document and replace it with the correct version. Just be sure that the error is one that you want replaced in the same way every time.
Preparing the Final Draft You may be able to move directly from your revised first draft to a final draft, but careful writers often prepare several drafts before they are ready to call a piece finished. Within your time constraints, follow their example. As you rewrite, you may continue to discover wordy constructions, poor connections, awkward sentences, and so on. Only when you’re satisfied that you’ve done your best should you prepare the final draft. However, it will be helpful to use the following checklist as you create the final version of your paper.
Checklist Good writing often comes after revision and rewriting. If you can view your work critically, you will be able to improve it. Use the following checklist before you write a final draft.
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Purpose, Audience, and Tone These three elements deal with the overall effect of your essay and should guide you throughout your writing: ❑ ❑ ❑
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If I am writing in response to an assignment, does my essay fulfill all parts of the assignment? Is my topic specific enough? Do I state my thesis or main idea early in the paper? If I don’t state a thesis or main idea, is it clearly implied so that there can be no mistake about my purpose? Is my thesis or main idea interesting? If this is an essay of argument, is my thesis statement fair? Do I take opposing viewpoints into account? Have I thought about my audience? Does my audience have any special requirements? Is my tone appropriate to my audience and purpose? Is my tone consistent throughout the essay?
Examples, Evidence, and Details These are specific details in the writing process. When you read your essay, you can determine whether you have used these elements well: ❑
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Have I adequately developed my thesis or main idea? Do I use specific details rather than generalities? Are my examples and evidence accurate, relevant, and convincing? Do I use quotations appropriately? Is too much of my paper quotation? Do I paraphrase carefully? Do I cite sources for the words and ideas of others? Are my examples, evidence, and details in the best order? Do I save the strongest point for last?
Structure Use an outline to determine the structure of your paper, but be aware that you may need to alter it as you write. Keep in mind the following: ❑ ❑ ❑ ❑ ❑
Do I have a principle of organization? Do I avoid repetition and digressions? Is my organization appropriate to my topic and thesis? Do I adequately introduce and conclude my paper? Are my paragraphs well developed, unified, and coherent? Does one paragraph grow out of another? Do I use transitions?
Language and Style Rely on a dictionary and your word-processing tools to help you with language and style. Ask yourself some questions:
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How to Write an Essay ❑ ❑ ❑ ❑ ❑ ❑ ❑ ❑
Have I chosen my words carefully? Am I sure of meanings? Is my language appropriate to my purpose, tone, and audience? Have I avoided wordy expressions? Euphemisms? Clichés? Have I avoided pretentious language? Have I used idioms correctly? Have I followed the guidelines of current written usage? Have I avoided sexism in the use of nouns and pronouns? Have I preferred the active to the passive voice of the verb?
Sentence Construction Use your editing and revision skills to make sure your sentences are well constructed. Keep the following in mind: ❑ ❑ ❑ ❑ ❑ ❑ ❑
Are my sentences correct? Have I avoided both fragments and run-ons? Are my modifiers in the right place? Do I have any dangling modifiers? Do my subjects and predicates agree in number? Have I used parallel construction? Have I avoided short, choppy sentences? Do I combine sentences effectively? Are my sentences varied in length and structure? Do I avoid monotony?
Grammar Use this book to augment your grammar skills and keep in mind the following: ❑
❑ ❑ ❑
❑ ❑ ❑ ❑ ❑ ❑
Have I checked spelling (including correct plural forms and hyphenation), capitalization, correct use and consistency of verb tenses, agreement (nouns, verbs, pronouns), pronoun cases, pronoun antecedents, use of adjectives with linking verbs, and comparative degrees of adjectives and adverbs? Does my punctuation make my meaning clear? Have I followed punctuation rules? Have I used commas with nonrestrictive elements, no commas with restrictive elements? Have I used commas with interrupting elements, with introductory phrases and clauses when necessary, between series items, and between independent clauses? Have I used periods and question marks correctly? Have I used (and not overused) exclamation points correctly? Have I used semicolons and colons correctly? Have I used (and not overused) dashes and parentheses correctly? Have I used (and not overused) quotation marks correctly? Have I used other punctuation with quotation marks correctly?
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CliffsTestPrep Regents English Workbook While this section has dealt with most of the generalities of good writing, it’s obvious that you can’t bring all of these aspects into your Comprehensive English Regents Examination. The questions are fairly specific on this exam, but the basic elements of writing are here, and can be followed. You will probably not have time for “prewriting.” You will not be able to do research on your topic on the Internet. But keep in mind that this exam, as well as many other Regents exams, will require you to write essays, and the skills you may learn in this section will accompany you as you continue your education and take other types of exams that require strong writing skills.
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Self-Evaluation Test with Answer Explanations Answer Sheet 1
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Self-Evaluation Test with Answer Explanations This is a sample practice exam. It consists of actual Regents questions from previous tests, in a format similar to the actual exam. The Comprehensive Examination in English exam lasts for three hours. Set a timer for yourself so that you can pace your progress.
Session One of the examination has two parts. Part A tests listening skills; you are to answer all six multiple-choice questions and write a response, as directed. For Part B, you are to answer all ten multiple-choice questions and write a response, as directed. Session Two of the examination has two parts. For Part A, you are to answer all ten multiple-choice questions and write a response, as directed. For Part B, you are to write a response, as directed.
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The first section of the English Regents exam consists of a passage that will be read aloud to you when you take the actual exam. This passage is followed by several multiple-choice questions, and then you are asked to write a report. In order to properly prepare for this part of the test, it would be helpful to have someone read this passage aloud to you, so you can practice under a simulated test situation. Of course, since you will not see this passage on the actual exam, it would make sense not to look at it, if someone is going to read it to you. There is a blank page following this written passage on which you can take notes.
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Session One Part A Overview: For this part of the test, you will listen to an account about vaudeville, a type of theatrical entertainment popular in the late 1890s and early 1900s, answer some multiple-choice questions, and write a response based on the situation described below. You will hear the account twice. You may take notes on the next page anytime you wish during the readings. The Situation: Your English class is studying the history of theatre in the United States. For your project, you have decided to write a report about the factors that influenced the development of vaudeville in New York City. In preparation for writing your report, listen to an account by Robert W. Snyder. Then use relevant information from the account to write your report. Your Task: Write a report for your English class about the factors that influenced the development of vaudeville in New York City.
Guidelines Be sure to . . . ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
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Tell your audience what they need to know about vaudeville. Discuss the factors that influenced the development of vaudeville in New York City. Use specific, accurate, and relevant information from the account to support your discussion. Use a tone and level of language appropriate for a report for your English class. Organize your ideas in a logical and coherent manner. Indicate any words taken directly from the account by using quotation marks or referring to the speaker. Follow the conventions of standard written English.
Listening Passage Vaudeville, like most successful things, was based on a simple idea: Stage shows with something for everyone. But in a city with the enormous diversity of New York, that was never a simple proposition. Each show had to have enough rough fun for workingmen, enough glamour for middle-class women, and enough old-country sentiment for immigrants far from home. A complete bill was a synchronized succession of daredevils, comics, tearjerkers, and crooners. The combination made vaudeville the most widely enjoyed form of turn-of-the-century theatre.
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First and foremost, vaudeville was a business. The entrepreneurs who put the shows together were out to make money. But in New York City, they worked in a dynamic and complex metropolis that gave their creations consequences they never anticipated. To succeed, vaudeville had to have as many voices as the city where it thrived. They swelled together in a chorus that was rarely in unison, sometimes in harmony, and always as loud, brassy, and quintessentially New York as the sound of a subway train roaring into Times Square. Vaudeville was slapstick clowns and devilish comedians who challenged old codes of propriety and gentility. It was sentimental songs about Mother and the pain of unrequited love. It was elaborately tuneful productions that heralded the beginning of American musical theatre. It was the children of slaves and immigrants, whose singing, dancing, and music gave a new, multicultural meaning to American identity. And there were sour notes: the grasping entrepreneurs who squeezed their money out of performers’ paychecks, the frustrations of artists who aimed for stardom but fell short, and the ugly racial stereotypes that distorted the portrayal of black Americans. Yet the symphonic sound of New York vaudeville was shaped by more than its metropolitan environment. It was also formed by the larger times and society. The turn of the century marked a watershed in the history of American popular culture, which is defined by its broad audience. Its expressions—songs, stories, comedy, whatever—are accessible to people in all segments of society. But when vaudeville appeared, the conditions under which popular culture was produced and enjoyed were changing. From colonial days to the middle nineteenth century, American popular culture was deeply influenced by custom, tradition, and public festivity. It was usually rooted in a place, like the Bowery of New York City, with its saloons and cheap theatres. Local likes and dislikes exercised a profound influence over the relationship between artists and audiences, so much so that audiences sometimes seemed like coproducers of the show. In the twentieth century, popular culture came to be defined by electronic mass media—film, radio, recordings, and television. A centralized entertainment business, which disseminated standardized products from coast to coast, undermined the local bases of culture. The rowdy spirit of the Bowery became a portable, marketable commodity. Audiences, which had once so intensely interacted with live performers, eventually became consumers of electronic sounds and images—often in the privacy of their homes. Vaudeville arose in the middle of this transition and helped it along. The vaudeville theatre’s polyphony was partly caused by the contrast between old and new popular culture. Vaudeville shows had bounce, immediacy, and energy, but the industry that presented them was bureaucratic and hierarchical. They offered the hilarity of an old-fashioned carnival and the flickering screen images of the first motion pictures. They paid close attention to local audiences, but knit them into a modern mass constituency. They featured blackface minstrels straight out of Jacksonian America and modern Jewish comedians from the Lower East Side. The genius of such shows lay in their ability to speak to a complex and infinitely varied audience. By the 1890s, immigration and industrialization had made New Yorkers a people of divergent nationalities, religions, races, and classes—all of them wrestling, it seemed, with the definition of the proper roles for men and women. New Yorkers seemed to have as many differences as similarities. In such a city, a form of theatre that offered something for everyone was bound to present people with the unexpected. When New Yorkers entered a vaudeville theatre, they entered an arena for communications between otherwise separate people. There they encountered strangers and novelties and tried on new ways of thinking, feeling, and behaving. Influences flowed back and forth in the kind of reciprocal cultural exchange that scholars have called “circularity.”
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CliffsTestPrep Regents English Workbook All who participated were transformed. Middle-class women experimented with alternatives to the chafing restraints of Victorianism when they watched the cyclonic singing and dancing of Eva Tanguay. Working people relieved factory monotony with the hilarity and vitality of Eddie Cantor. Businessmen escaped from office stress with sketches like “Blackmail,” a short vaudeville play that crackled with intrigue. Irish-Americans, so recently the outcasts of the city, celebrated their ascendancy when Maggie Cline roared out the boxing ballad “Throw Him Down, McCloskey.” Homesick Jews found a hymn to Mom and a new American ethnic identity when Sophie Tucker sang “My Yiddisha Mama.” White Americans discovered the musical artistry of black Americans, which was already transforming popular music with the buoyant, syncopated strains of ragtime. Culture is a many-sided conversation, and nowhere in turn-of-the-century America were the voices more complex, contradictory, and concentrated than in vaudeville. In the vaudeville theatre, New Yorkers found celebration and sentiment, freedom and confinement, abundance and exploitation, intimacy and bureaucracy, glitter and meanness: the voice of the city. —from Voice of the City: Vaudeville and Popular Culture in New York (1989), by Robert W. Snyder. By permission of Oxford University Press, Inc.
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Notes Use this page to take notes on the Passage.
Self-Evaluation Test 193
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Multiple-Choice Questions Directions (1–6): Use your notes to answer the following questions about the passage read to you. Select the best suggested answer and write its number in the space provided on the answer sheet. The questions may help you think about ideas and information you might use in your writing. You may return to these questions anytime you wish.
1. According to the speaker, the primary goal of the people who produced vaudeville shows was to (1) (2) (3) (4)
nurture talent. create controversy. establish traditions. make money.
2. The speaker implies that some vaudeville comedians “challenged old codes of propriety” by (1) (2) (3) (4)
arguing with critics who had given unfavorable reviews. hiring writers rather than writing their own jokes. entertaining in ways that were once considered impolite. demanding higher salaries than past performers had earned.
3. According to the speaker, what transition was occurring at the time of vaudeville’s popularity? (1) (2) (3) (4)
Entertainers were changing from being amateurs to being professionals. Audiences were changing from being participants to being consumers. Critics were changing from being reviewers to being analysts. Entrepreneurs were changing from being investors to being observers.
4. Stating that “vaudeville theatre’s polyphony was partly caused by the contrast between old and new popular culture,” the speaker uses the word “polyphony” to mean the (1) (2) (3) (4)
opportunity for talented new performers. potential for rapid growth. atmosphere of formal elegance. sound of many differing voices.
5. The speaker implies that the fact that, in the 1890s, “New Yorkers seemed to have as many differences as similarities” was partly the result of the (1) (2) (3) (4)
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large population of immigrants. recent invention of television. sudden popularity of vaudeville. good quality of schools.
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Self-Evaluation Test with Answer Explanations 6. The speaker’s references to Eva Tanguay, Eddie Cantor, Maggie Cline, and Sophie Tucker reinforce the idea that performers were often cheated by dishonest entrepreneurs. had to overcome personal difficulties. appealed to individuals from diverse backgrounds. competed with each other during shows.
After you have finished these questions, review The Situation and read Your Task and the Guidelines. Use scrap paper to plan your response. Then write your response to Part A. After you finish your response for Part A, complete Part B.
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(1) (2) (3) (4)
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Part B Directions: Read the text and study the map on the following pages, answer the multiple-choice questions, and write a response based on the situation described below. You may use the margins to take notes as you read and scrap paper to plan your response. The Situation: Your Earth Science class has been studying changing weather patterns. In order to increase public awareness, you have decided to write a letter to the local newspaper discussing global warming and explaining how global warming may affect humans. Your Task: Using relevant information from both documents, write a letter to your local newspaper in which you discuss global warming and explain how global warming may affect humans. Write only the body of the letter.
Guidelines Be sure to . . . ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
Tell your audience what they need to know about global warming. Explain how global warming may affect humans. Use specific, accurate, and relevant information from the text and the map to develop your letter. Use a tone and level of language appropriate for a letter to your local newspaper. Organize your ideas in a logical and coherent manner. Indicate any words taken directly from the text by using quotation marks or referring to the author. Follow the conventions of standard written English.
Life in the Greenhouse
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. . . A decade ago, the idea that the planet was warming up as a result of human activity was largely theoretical. We knew that since the Industrial Revolution began in the 18th century, factories and power plants and automobiles and farms have been loading the atmosphere with heat-trapping gases, including carbon dioxide and methane. But evidence that the climate was actually getting hotter was still murky. Not anymore. As an authoritative report issued a few weeks ago [in 2001] by the U.N.-sponsored Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change makes plain, the trend toward a warmer world has unquestionably begun. Worldwide temperatures have climbed more than 1°F over the past century, and the 1990s were the hottest decade on record. After analyzing data going back at least two decades on everything from air and ocean temperatures to the spread and retreat of wildlife, the IPCC asserts that this slow but steady warming has had an impact on no fewer than 420 physical processes and animal and plant species on all continents. Glaciers, including the legendary snows of Kilimanjaro, are disappearing from mountaintops around the globe. Coral reefs are dying off as the seas get too warm for comfort. Drought is the norm in parts of Asia and Africa. El Niño events, which trigger devastating weather in the eastern Pacific,
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are more frequent. The Arctic permafrost is starting to melt. Lakes and rivers in colder climates are freezing later and thawing earlier each year. Plants and animals are shifting their ranges poleward and to higher altitudes, and migration patterns for animals as diverse as polar bears, butterflies and beluga whales are being disrupted. Faced with these hard facts, scientists no longer doubt that global warming is happening, and almost nobody questions the fact that humans are at least partly responsible. Nor are the changes over. Already, humans have increased the concentration of carbon dioxide, the most abundant heattrapping gas in the atmosphere, to 30% above pre-industrial levels—and each year the rate of increase gets faster. The obvious conclusion: temperatures will keep going up. Unfortunately, they may be rising faster and heading higher than anyone expected. By 2100, says the IPCC, average temperatures will increase between 2.5°F and 10.4°F—more than 50% higher than predictions of just a half-decade ago. That may not seem like much, but consider that it took only a 9°F shift to end the last ice age. Even at the low end, the changes could be problematic enough, with storms getting more frequent and intense, droughts more pronounced, coastal areas ever more severely eroded by rising seas, rainfall scarcer on agricultural land and ecosystems thrown out of balance. But if the rise is significantly larger, the result could be disastrous. With seas rising as much as 3 ft., enormous areas of densely populated land—coastal Florida, much of Louisiana, the Nile Delta, the Maldives, Bangladesh—would become uninhabitable. Entire climatic zones might shift dramatically, making central Canada look more like central Illinois, Georgia more like Guatemala. Agriculture would be thrown into turmoil. Hundreds of millions of people would have to migrate out of unlivable regions. Public health could suffer. Rising seas would contaminate water supplies with salt. Higher levels of urban ozone, the result of stronger sunlight and warmer temperatures, could worsen respiratory illnesses. More frequent hot spells could lead to a rise in heat-related deaths. Warmer temperatures could widen the range of disease-carrying rodents and bugs, such as mosquitoes and ticks, increasing the incidence of dengue fever, malaria, encephalitis, Lyme disease and other afflictions. Worst of all, this increase in temperatures is happening at a pace that outstrips anything the earth has seen in the past 100 million years. Humans will have a hard enough time adjusting, especially in poorer countries, but for wildlife, the changes could be devastating. Like any other area of science, the case for human-induced global warming has uncertainties— and like many pro-business lobbyists, President Bush has proclaimed those uncertainties a reason to study the problem further rather than act. But while the evidence is circumstantial, it is powerful, thanks to the IPCC’s painstaking research. The U.N.-sponsored group was organized in the late 1980s. Its mission: to sift through climate-related studies from a dozen different fields and integrate them into a coherent picture. “It isn’t just the work of a few green people,” says Sir John Houghton, one of the early leaders who at the time ran the British Meteorological Office. “The IPCC scientists come from a wide range of backgrounds and countries.” Measuring the warming that has already taken place is relatively simple; the trick is unraveling the causes and projecting what will happen over the next century. To do that, IPCC scientists fed a wide range of scenarios involving varying estimates of population and economic growth, changes in technology and other factors into computers. That process gave them about 35 estimates, ranging from 6 billion to 35 billion tons, of how much excess carbon dioxide will enter the atmosphere. Then they loaded those estimates into the even larger, more powerful computer programs that attempt to model the planet’s climate. Because no one climate model is considered definitive, they used seven different versions, which yielded 235 independent predictions of global temperature increase. That’s where the range of 2.5°F to 10.4°F (1.4°C to 5.8°C) comes from. . . .
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The models still aren’t perfect. One major flaw, agree critics and champions alike, is that they don’t adequately account for clouds. In a warmer world, more water will evaporate from the oceans and presumably form more clouds. If they are billowy cumulus clouds, they will tend to shade the planet and slow down warming; if they are high, feathery cirrus clouds, they will trap even more heat. . . . It won’t take the greatest extremes of warming to make life uncomfortable for large numbers of people. Even slightly higher temperatures in regions that are already drought- or flood-prone would exacerbate those conditions. In temperate zones, warmth and increased CO2 would make some crops flourish—at first. But beyond 3° of warming, says Bill Easterling, a professor of geography and agronomy at Penn State and a lead author of the IPCC report, “there would be a dramatic turning point. U.S. crop yields would start to decline rapidly.” In the tropics, where crops are already at the limit of their temperature range, the decrease would start right away. Even if temperatures rise only moderately, some scientists fear the climate would reach a “tipping point”—a point at which even a tiny additional increase would throw the system into violent change. If peat bogs and Arctic permafrost warm enough to start releasing the methane stored within them, for example, that potent greenhouse gas would suddenly accelerate the heat-trapping process. By contrast, if melting ice caps dilute the salt content of the sea, major ocean currents like the Gulf Stream could slow or even stop, and so would their warming effects on northern regions. More snowfall reflecting more sunlight back into space could actually cause a net cooling. Global warming could, paradoxically, throw the planet into another ice age. Even if such a tipping point doesn’t materialize, the more drastic effects of global warming might be only postponed rather than avoided. The IPCC’s calculations end with the year 2100, but the warming won’t. World Bank chief scientist, Robert Watson, currently serving as IPCC chair, points out that the CO2 entering the atmosphere today will be there for a century. Says Watson: “If we stabilize [CO2 emissions] now, the concentration will continue to go up for hundreds of years. Temperatures will rise over that time.” That could be truly catastrophic. The ongoing disruption of ecosystems and weather patterns would be bad enough. But if temperatures reach the IPCC’s worstcase levels and stay there for as long as 1,000 years, says Michael Oppenheimer, chief scientist at Environmental Defense, vast ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica could melt, raising sea level more than 30 ft. Florida would be history, and every city on the U.S. Eastern seaboard would be inundated. In the short run, there’s not much chance of halting global warming, not even if every nation in the world ratifies the Kyoto Protocol tomorrow. The treaty doesn’t require reductions in carbon dioxide emissions until 2008. By that time, a great deal of damage will already have been done. But we can slow things down. If action today can keep the climate from eventually reaching an unstable tipping point or can finally begin to reverse the warming trend a century from now, the effort would hardly be futile. Humanity embarked unknowingly on the dangerous experiment of tinkering with the climate of our planet. Now that we know what we’re doing, it would be utterly foolish to continue. —Michael D. Lemonick, from “Life in the Greenhouse,” April 9, 2001. © TIME INC. Reprinted by permission. TIME is a registered trademark of Time Inc. All rights reserved.
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SOUTH AMERICA
AFRICA
Cairo
South Africa: Malaria may surge in areas previously too cold for mosquitoes to inhabit.
Nigeria: A 3-foot rise in sea level could displace almost 4 million people and leave parts of the capital city, Lagos, underwater.
Brazil: Models project that populous northeastern Brazil could suffer some of the most severe crop setbacks because of drought.
Mexico: Rising temperatures could cut maize crops by 20 percent to 60 percent.
Shanghai
Zimbabwe: River flow along the Zambezi could fall steeply, disrupting crop production and possibly producing refugees.
AUSTRALIA
Philippines
Australia: The Great Barrier Reef could be ruined as a tourist attraction if the water temperature increases by a mere 3.6 degrees.
Bangladesh: Faster melting snowpacks in Indonesia the Himalayas, rising sea levels, and cholera outbreaks could force millions from their homes.
New Delhi
ASIA
Great Barrier Reef
Marshall Islands, Tuvalu, Kiribati: Swelling oceans could cover these islands, forcing residents to evacuate.
Self-Evaluation Test
Sources (adapted): National Center for Atmospheric Research, University of Virginia, Worldwatch Institute, National Climatic Data Center, World Meteorological Organization, and staff reports; and Rod Little, Rob Cady, and Stephen Rountree/U.S. News & World Report, February 5, 2001
Floods: Sea levels will rise in the next century, leaving people more vulnerable to storm surges. Earlier melting snow could cause rivers to overflow.
Fires: Drier summers and higher temperatures create ideal conditions for wildfires. In 1997, some 40,000 people were treated for smoke inhalation in Southeast Asia.
Refugees: Floods displaced 230 million people in China in the 1998 La Niña rains. Future floods could do similar damage by submerging homes and contaminating water.
Coral bleaching: Warmer water could bleach coral reefs, leading to their destruction. This may deplete fisheries, disrupting food supplies and tourism.
Water wars: Droughts may bring on conflicts over scarce water resources, pitting upstream nations against downstream neighbors.
Disease: Warmer, wetter conditions may amplify insect-borne diseases, such as malaria; flooding could spawn more water-borne illness.
Pollution: Sunlight breaks pollution into noxious substances, causing more respiratory problems.
Crops: Drought and high temperatures could cause crop failure and malnutrition.
Heat wave: Deaths from heatstroke worldwide may double by 2020.
EUROPE
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Consequences of Global Warming
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Multiple-Choice Questions Directions (7–16): Select the best suggested answer to each question and write its number in the space provided on the answer sheet. The questions may help you think about ideas and information you might want to use in your writing. You may return to these questions anytime you wish.
7. According to the article, the IPCC confirmed the effects of global warming by (1) (2) (3) (4)
surveying scientists in several countries. experimenting with specific plants. studying collected data over time. establishing standard units for measuring temperature.
8. Lines 13–19 present a list of (1) (2) (3) (4)
possible methods of preventing global warming. controversial theories about global warming. probable causes of global warming. observable evidence of global warming.
9. The article cites “coastal Florida, much of Louisiana, the Nile Delta, the Maldives, Bangladesh” (lines 32 and 33) as areas that could become uninhabitable due to (1) (2) (3) (4)
flooding. droughts. storms. earthquakes.
10. According to the article, what is one way people will be affected by rising sea levels? (1) (2) (3) (4)
Sea plants will be harder to harvest. The number of water-related accidents will increase. Current ocean maps will become unreliable. Drinking water will be less plentiful.
11. According to the article, global warming may result in more cases of malaria because (1) (2) (3) (4)
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humans’ immune systems will be weakened. habitats favorable to some insects will increase. most rodents cannot survive in hot climates. people will tend to move to cooler regions.
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Self-Evaluation Test with Answer Explanations 12. According to the article, how might agriculture in temperate zones be affected by slightly higher temperatures? Farmers would use less fuel. Green plants would become more nutritious. Crop yields would increase temporarily. Farm animals would require less food.
Self-Evaluation Test
(1) (2) (3) (4)
13. The article implies that a “greenhouse gas” (line 77) is a gas that (1) (2) (3) (4)
produces both heat and light. stimulates plants to give off heat. absorbs heat from the earth’s surface. prevents heat from leaving the atmosphere.
14. The map indicates an increased danger of death from heatstroke in (1) (2) (3) (4)
North America. South America. Africa. Australia.
15. According to the map, one effect of global warming on countries in the southern half of Africa will be (1) (2) (3) (4)
depleted water supplies for downstream nations. depleted fishing from coral bleaching. increased rates of insect-borne disease. increased incidents of wildfires.
16. According to the map, global warming would lead to increased respiratory problems in which country? (1) (2) (3) (4)
United States Mexico Brazil Nigeria
After you have finished these questions review The Situation and read Your Task and the Guidelines. Use scrap paper to plan your response. Then write your response to Part B.
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Session Two Part A Directions: Read the passages on the following pages (a short story and a poem). Write the number of the answer to each multiple-choice question on your answer sheet. Then write the essay in your essay booklet as described in Your Task. You may use the margins to take notes as you read and scrap paper to plan your response. Your Task: After you have read the passages and answered the multiple-choice questions, write a unified essay about the natural world as revealed in the passages. In your essay, use ideas from both passages to establish a controlling idea about the natural world. Using evidence from each passage, develop your controlling idea and show how the author uses specific literary elements or techniques to convey that idea.
Guidelines Be sure to . . . ■ ■ ■
■ ■ ■
Use ideas from both passages to establish a controlling idea about the natural world. Use specific and relevant evidence from each passage to develop your controlling idea. Show how each author uses specific literary elements (for example: theme, characterization, structure, point of view) or techniques (for example: symbolism, irony, figurative language) to convey the controlling idea. Organize your ideas in a logical and coherent manner. Use language that communicates ideas effectively. Follow the conventions of standard written English.
Passage I
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It was evening in late March. The sun was nearing its setting, its soft rays gilding1 the western limestone headland of Rathlin Island and washing its green hills with wet gold light. A small boy walked jauntily along a hoof-printed path that wriggled between the folds of these hills and opened out into a crater-like valley on the cliff-top. Presently he stopped as if remembering something, then suddenly he left the path, and began running up one of the hills. When he reached the top he was out of breath and stood watching fan-shaped streaks of light radiating from golden-edged clouds, the scene reminding him of a picture he had seen of the Transfiguration.2 A short distance below him was the cow munching at the edge of a reedy lake. Colm ran down to meet her waving his stick in the air, and the wind rumbling in his ears made him give an exultant whoop which splashed upon the hills in a shower of echoed sound. A flock of gulls lying on the short green grass near the lake rose up languidly, drifting lazily like blown snowflakes over the rim of the cliff.
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The lake faced west and was fed by a stream, the drainings of the semicircling hills. One side was open to the winds from the sea, and in winter a little outlet trickled over the cliffs making a black vein in their grey sides. The boy lifted stones and began throwing them into the lake, weaving web after web on its calm surface. Then he skimmed the water with flat stones, some of them jumping the surface and coming to rest on the other side. He was delighted with himself, and after listening to his echoing shouts of delight he ran to fetch his cow. Gently he tapped her on the side and reluctantly she went towards the brown-mudded path that led out of the valley. The boy was about to throw a final stone into the lake when a bird flew low over his head, its neck astrain, and its orange-coloured legs clear in the saffron3 light. It was a wild duck. It circled the lake twice, thrice, coming lower each time and then with a nervous flapping of wings it skidded along the surface, its legs breaking the water into a series of glittering arcs. Its wings closed, it lit silently, gave a slight shiver, and began pecking indifferently at the water. The boy with dilated eyes watched it eagerly as he turned back and moved slowly along the edge of the lake. The duck was going to the farther end where bulrushes, wild irises and sedge4 grew around sods of islands and bearded tussocks. Colm stood to watch the bird meandering between tall bulrushes, its body, black and solid as stone against the greying water. Then as if it had sunk it was gone. The boy ran stealthily along the bank looking away from the lake, pretending indifference to the wild duck’s movements. When he came opposite to where he had last seen the bird he stopped and peered closely through the gently-sighing reeds whose shadows streaked the water in a maze of black strokes. In front of him was a soddy islet guarded by the spears of sedge and separated from the bank by a narrow channel of water. The water wasn’t too deep—he could wade across with care. Rolling up his short trousers he began to wade, his arms outstretched, and his legs brown and stunted in the mountain water. As he drew near the islet, his feet sank in the mud and bubbles winked up at him. He went more carefully and nervously, peeping through the avenues of reeds and watching each tussock closely. Then one trouser fell, and dipped into the water; the boy dropped his hands to roll it up, he unbalanced, made a splashing sound, and the bird arose with a squawk and whirred away over the cliffs. Colm clambered on to the wetsoaked sod of land, which was spattered with seagulls’ feathers and bits of windblown rushes. Into each hummock5 he looked, pulling back the long grass, running hither and thither as if engaged in some queer game. At last he came on the nest facing seawards. Two flat rocks dimpled the face of the water and between them was a neck of land matted with coarse grass containing the nest. It was untidily built of dried rushes, straw and feathers, and in it lay one solitary egg. Colm was delighted. He looked around and saw no one. The nest was his. He lifted the egg, smooth and green as the sky, with a faint tinge of yellow like the reflected light from a buttercup; and then he felt he had done wrong. He left it back quickly. He knew he shouldn’t have touched it and he wondered would the bird forsake it. A vague sadness stole over him and he felt in his heart he had sinned. Carefully smoothing out his footprints he hurriedly left the islet and ran after his cow. The sun had now set and the cold shiver of evening enveloped him, chilling his body and saddening his mind. In the morning he was up and away to school. He took the grass rut that edged the road, for it was softer on the bare feet. His house was the last on the western headland, and after a mile or so he was joined by Peadar Ruadh; both boys, dressed in similar hand-knitted blue jerseys and grey trousers, carried home-made school bags. Colm was full of the nest and as soon as he joined his companion he said eagerly: “Peadar, I’ve a nest—a wild duck’s with one egg.” “And how do you know it’s a wild duck’s?” asked Peadar, slightly jealous. “Sure I saw her with my own two eyes, her brown speckled back with a crow’s patch on it, and her little yellow legs and—”
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“Where is it?” interrupted Peadar in a challenging tone. “I’m not going to tell you, for you’d rob it,” retorted Colm sensing unfriendliness. “Aach! I suppose it’s a tame duck’s you have or maybe an old gull’s,” replied Peadar with sarcasm. Colm made a puss at his companion. “A lot you know!” he said, “for a gull’s egg has spots and this one is greenish-white, for I had it in my hand.” And then the words he didn’t want to hear rushed from Peadar in a mocking chant: “You had it in your hand! She’ll forsake it! She’ll forsake! She’ll forsake!” Colm felt as if he would choke or cry with vexation.6 His mind told him that Peadar was right, but somehow he couldn’t give into it and he replied: “She’ll not forsake! She’ll not! I know she’ll not!” But in school his faith wavered. Through the windows he could see moving sheets of rain—rain that dribbled down the panes filling his mind with thoughts of the lake creased and chilled by the wind; the nest sodden and black with wetness; and the egg cold as a cave stone. He shivered from the thoughts and fidgeted with the ink-well cover, sliding it backwards and forwards mechanically. The mischievous look had gone from his eyes and the school-day dragged on interminably.7 But at last they were out in the rain, Colm rushing home as fast as he could. He spent little time at his dinner of potatoes and salted fish and played none with his baby brothers and sisters, but hurried out to the valley, now smoky with drifts of slanting rain, its soaked grass yielding to the bare feet. Before long he was at the lake-side where the rain lisped ceaselessly in the water and wavelets licked the seeping sides leaving an irregular line of froth like frost on a grey slate. Opposite the islet the boy entered the water. The wind was blowing into his face rustling noisily the rushes, heavy with the dust of rain. A moss-cheeper, swaying on a reed like a mouse, filled the air with light cries of loneliness. The boy reached the islet, his heart thumping with excitement, wondering did the bird forsake. He went slowly, quietly, on to the strip of land that led to the nest. He rose on his toes, looking over the sedge to see if he could see her. And then every muscle tautened. She was on, her shoulders hunched up, and her bill lying on her breast as if she were asleep. Colm’s heart thumped wildly in his ears. She hadn’t forsaken. He was about to turn stealthily away. Something happened. The bird moved, her neck straightened, twitching nervously from side to side. The boy’s head swam with lightness. He stood transfixed. The wild duck, with a panicky flapping, rose heavily, squawking as she did so, a piece of straw and a white object momentarily entwined in her legs. The egg fell on the flat wet rock beside the nest, besmearing it with yellow slime. A sense of tremendous guilt seized Colm, a throbbing silence enveloped him as if everything had gone from the earth leaving him alone. Stupefied, numbed to every physical sense, he floundered across the black water, running wildly from the scene of the disaster. —Michael McLaverty, “The Wild Duck’s Nest,” from The Irish Monthly, April 1934
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
gilding—covering with gold Transfiguration—a famous religious painting saffron—yellow sedge—a marsh plant hummock—small hill vexation—annoyance interminably—endlessly
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Passage II In Time of Silver Rain
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In time of silver rain The earth Puts forth new life again, Green grasses grow And flowers lift their heads, And over all the plain The wonder spreads Of life, Of life, Of life! In time of silver rain The butterflies Lift silken wings To catch a rainbow cry, And trees put forth New leaves to sing In joy beneath the sky As down the roadway Passing boys and girls Go singing, too, In time of silver rain When spring And life Are new. —“In Time of Silver Rain,” from The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes by Langston Hughes, edited by Arnold Rampersad with David Roessel, Associate Editor, ©1994 by The Estate of Langston Hughes. Used by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc.
Multiple-Choice Questions Directions (1–10): Select the best suggested answer to each question and write its number in the space provided on the answer sheet. The questions may help you think about the ideas and information you might want to use in your essay. You may return to these questions anytime you wish. Questions 1–5 refer to Passage I (the short story). 1. The development of the opening paragraph relies on the use of (1) (2) (3) (4)
cause and effect. comparison and contrast. appeal to the senses. accumulation of generalizations.
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CliffsTestPrep Regents English Workbook 2. The boy’s mood as he walks to get his cow can best be described as (1) (2) (3) (4)
carefree. confused. unhappy. cautious.
3. In line 26, the word “meandering” most nearly means (1) (2) (3) (4)
pausing. wandering. falling. dancing.
4. Colm’s initial delight at finding the wild duck’s egg is followed quickly by (1) (2) (3) (4)
amusement. relief. anger. guilt.
5. The author uses the dialogue between the two boys to (1) (2) (3) (4)
intensify Colm’s feeling. provide essential information. lessen Peadar’s hostility. inject comic relief.
Questions 6–10 refer to Passage II (the poem). 6. The narrator’s use of the word “silver” (line 1) suggests that the rain is (1) (2) (3) (4)
warm. hard. valuable. safe.
7. According to the poem, “wonder” (line 7) is inspired by the (1) (2) (3) (4)
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discovery of truth. renewal of nature. flight from reality. freedom from stress.
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Self-Evaluation Test with Answer Explanations 8. The narrator describes the actions of both the flowers (line 5) and the leaves (lines 15 and 16) by using alliteration. hyperbole. metaphor. personification.
Self-Evaluation Test
(1) (2) (3) (4)
9. The actions of the “Passing boys and girls” (line 19) suggest (1) (2) (3) (4)
celebration. discovery. escape. denial.
10. The overall attitude of the narrator toward nature is one of (1) (2) (3) (4)
disappointment. appreciation. uncertainty. curiosity.
After you have finished these questions, review Your Task and the Guidelines. Use scrap paper to plan your response. Then write your response to Part A. After you finish your response for Part A, go on to Part B.
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Part B Read the following Critical Lens and write down your interpretation. Your Task: Write a critical essay in which you discuss two works of literature you have read from the particular perspective of the statement that is provided for you in the Critical Lens. In your essay, provide a valid interpretation of the statement, agree or disagree with the statement as you have interpreted it, and support your opinion using specific references to appropriate literary elements from the two works. You may use scrap paper to plan your response.
Critical Lens “All that is literature seeks to communicate power. . .” —Thomas De Quincey, The Collected Writings of Thomas De Quincey, 1897
Guidelines Be sure to . . . ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
■ ■ ■
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Provide a valid interpretation of the Critical Lens that clearly establishes the criteria for analysis. Indicate whether you agree or disagree with the statement as you have interpreted it. Choose two works you have read that you believe best support your opinion. Use the criteria suggested by the Critical Lens to analyze the works you have chosen. Avoid plot summary. Instead, use specific references to appropriate literary elements (for example: theme, characterization, setting, point of view) to develop your analysis. Organize your ideas in a unified and coherent manner. Specify the titles and authors of the literature you choose. Follow the conventions of standard written English.
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Answer Key Session Two: 1. 3 2. 1 3. 2 4. 4 5. 1 6. 3 7. 2 8. 4 9. 1 10. 2
Self-Evaluation Test
Session One: 1. 4 2. 3 3. 2 4. 4 5. 1 6. 3 7. 3 8. 4 9. 1 10. 4 11. 2 12. 3 13. 4 14. 1 15. 3 16. 2
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Answer Explanations Session One, Part A 1. Correct answer: (4) This is a recall question that was stated in the passage, “First and foremost, vaudeville was a business.” 2. Correct answer: (3) This is an inference question because the speaker implies that it was the “slapstick clowns and devilish comedians” who challenged old codes of propriety (proper behavior). The listener infers that their impolite behavior challenged the accepted behaviors of the day. Choices 1 and 2 are not part of the passage. For choice 4, the only reference to pay is, “grasping entrepreneurs who squeezed their money out of performers’ paychecks . . .” 3. Correct answer: (2) This is a recall question because the speaker defines the transition as “Audiences, which had once so intensely interacted with live performers, eventually became consumers of electronic sounds and images—often in the privacy of their homes.” 4. Correct answer: (4) This is a vocabulary question. The prefix “poly” means “many,” and the word “phonia” means “voice” or “tone.” However, if you did not know that, the speaker states that vaudeville is many things, like the sound of many voices, by giving the following context clues: “They offered the hilarity of an old-fashioned carnival and the flickering screen images of the first motion pictures. They paid close attention to local audiences, but knit them into a modern mass constituency. They featured blackface minstrels straight out of Jacksonian America and modern Jewish comedians from the Lower East Side.” 5. Correct answer: (1) Again, when the speaker implies, the listener must infer, so this is an inference question. The speaker’s explanation for the many difference of New Yorkers was that “By the 1890s, immigration and industrialization had made New Yorkers a people of divergent nationalities, religions, races, and classes—all of them wrestling, it seemed, with the definition of the proper roles for men and women.” The inference is that a large population of immigrants resulted in many differences. Television did not come in to play until well into the twentieth century, and vaudeville was a turn-of-the-century phenomenon, so its effect is negligible. Therefore, choice 2 is not a strong one. Choice 4 is not referenced by the passage. 6. Correct answer: (3) This is a summarization question because it requires the listener to summarize one of the main ideas of the passage, that there was a large population with diverse backgrounds during the time of vaudeville. This same main idea is expressed in the answers to questions 4 and 5 (many differing voices and a large population of immigrants). In test design, that is called scaffolding, where one question builds upon another. While the remaining choices are referenced in the passage, they do not reinforce the diverse nature of the performers named in the stem of the question.
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Response: Part A
The written response is usually in the following formats: ■ ■ ■
An article A report The body of a letter
Be aware of: ■ ■ ■
Audience (who you’re writing for) Tone (the attitude of your expression) Opinion (whether you are being asked to agree or disagree with an issue)
This task is basic because you are asked only to write a report about what influenced the development of vaudeville in New York City using the information from the passage to support your understanding. A good way to organize your writing would be a standard, three-paragraph format consisting of the following: ■ ■ ■
Introduction Body Conclusion
While the conclusion is merely a summary, you can use the guidelines to help you structure the first two paragraphs in the following manner: Introduction: Tell your audience what they need to know about vaudeville. Body: Discuss the factors that influenced the development of vaudeville in New York City. Use specific, accurate, and relevant information from the account to support your discussion. In the introductory paragraph, vaudeville should be defined. It consisted of stage shows that offered “something for everyone.” However, because of the diversity of New York City, this was not a simple thing to accomplish. It had to please many types of people such as workingmen, middle-class women, and immigrants, and have different forms of entertainment ranging from daredevils and tearjerkers to crooners. Also, it should be mentioned that vaudeville was the most enjoyed form of theater at the turn of the twentieth century. Therefore the most important information includes the definition of the term, the mention of the diversity of New York City, and the popularity of this form of entertainment and why.
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For this section you must also write a response. Carefully read the Overview, The Situation, Your Task, and Guidelines, as they provide directions and helpful information about the passage.
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CliffsTestPrep Regents English Workbook In the body, some important points that should be covered include, first and foremost, that vaudeville was a business out to make a profit. Also, that vaudeville, as an art form, challenged the “codes of propriety and gentility” of the times. In other words, it ran contrary to some of the social conventions of that era. Beyond the diverse influence of New York, vaudeville also was influenced by the larger panorama of the changing times marked by the turn of the century. It provided a transition between this time of old culture to new, from live performance on a stage to electronic mass media like film, radio, recordings, and, eventually, television. It challenged the societal standards of the times, and, beyond representing the diversity of city life, it also encompassed the larger picture of the beginning of a new era and age of entertainment. In the concluding paragraph, the larger points of the essay can be summarized. Diversity is at the center of American culture, and vaudeville reflected that in turn-of-the-century America. Vaudeville challenged the social standards of the times and, as a result, was the voice of freedom and celebration for the masses and provided a transition into the twentieth-century world of entertainment.
Session One, Part B 7. Correct answer: (3) The evidence from the passage that supports this answer is found in paragraph two, which states “After analyzing data going back at least two decades on everything from air and ocean temperatures to the spread and retreat of wildlife, the IPCC asserts that this slow but steady warming has had an impact on no fewer than 420 physical processes and animal and plant species on all continents.” This quote proves that experiments were done with different plants, species, and temperatures over a vast period of time and over a vast area. Therefore the other possible answers cannot be correct since choice 3 includes all the choices into one possible answer. 8. Correct answer: (4) Lines 13-19 discuss glaciers disappearing from mountaintops, coral reefs dying because the seas are becoming too warm, lakes and rivers freezing and thawing earlier from year to year, etc. Lines 13-19 list proof that global warming is occurring and has been documented. 9. Correct answer: (1) The article states “With seas rising as much as 3 ft., enormous areas of densely populated land . . . would become uninhabitable.” The only possible answer here would be flooding, since the sentence is describing waters that are rising. 10. Correct answer: (4) The evidence is found in lines 37 and 38, where the passage states “Public health could suffer. Rising seas would contaminate water supplies with salt.” 11. Correct answer: (2) The evidence to support this answer can be found in lines 40-42, where the passage states “Warmer temperatures could widen the range of disease-carrying rodents and bugs, such as mosquitoes and ticks, increasing the incidence of dengue fever, malaria, encephalitis, Lyme disease and other afflictions.” 12. Correct answer: (3) The support for this answer can be found in lines 69 and 70 of the passage when it states “In temperate zones, warmth and increased CO2 would make some crops flourish-at first.” The passage goes on to discuss how the crop yield after this brief flourish would “decline rapidly.” The key word in choice 3 is temporarily. 13. Correct answer: (4) Line 77 states “. . . that potent greenhouse gas would suddenly accelerate the heat-trapping process.” Therefore, the best response to this question would be choice 4, since it states that the gas would prevent heat from leaving the atmosphere.
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Self-Evaluation Test with Answer Explanations 14. Correct answer: (1) This is the only possible solution to this question because based on symbols that represent different problems in the countries, the only heatstroke symbol for the choices given is located in North America.
16. Correct answer: (2) The only possible answer for respiratory problems would be Mexico with the symbol for pollution. The United States has several symbols, but pollution is not one of them. Brazil has a symbol for crop setbacks because of severe droughts. Nigeria has a symbol for floods, which could possibly raise the sea level 3 feet and displace four million people.
Response: Part B Possible Notes Underlined from Article A lot of the information that needs to be underlined and noted when you are reading is answered in the multiple-choice section. Some possible notes to help with the essay could be the following: 1. What is global warming—located in the introductory paragraph 2. How is global warming being documented?—found in paragraph 2 3. The effects of global warming—what is happening to our world as a result of global warming— located in paragraph 3 4. The results of global warming—the effects it will have on our agriculture, our health, the increase in heat, the floods and the droughts, etc.—all information that can be found on the map as evidence of global warming 5. What can we do to slow down the process?
Written Response Introduction: What is global warming? Begin this paragraph with general information on this topic. What information has the IPCC discovered over several decades . . . noting that global warming has been an ongoing problem that continues to get worse. Paragraph 1: Information from the article and the map: What are some general occurrences of global warming? How are we causing global warming? Paragraph 2: What are some possible outcomes of global warming? Some possibilities include: death from heatstroke, increased respiratory problems, increased rates of illness due to insect-borne diseases, areas becoming uninhabitable due to flooding. Conclusion: What can we do to slow the process? It is unstoppable at this point, but hopefully in the long run we can change our ways, slow the process, and attempt to reverse the damage.
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15. Correct answer: (3) There are three skull-shaped symbols in the southern half of Africa. This seems to be the predominant symbol proving that there will be an increase in insect-borne diseases. The only other symbols that are located in this section of the map are floods, crop failure, and refugees and there is only one of each.
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Session Two, Part A 1. Correct answer: (3) This is an analysis question. The first paragraph is highly descriptive: “Soft rays gilding . . . green hills . . . wet gold light . . . hoof-printed path that wriggled . . . crater-like valley . . . fan-shaped streaks of light . . . golden edged-clouds,” etc. It uses imagery (the literary term that means words that appeal to the senses). Also, it ends with a simile, “drifting lazily like blown snowflakes over the rim of the cliff.” The literary term simile means a stated comparison between two unlike things, connected by like or as. It is this use of figurative language that appeals to the senses. The other devices are not used in the opening paragraph. 2. Correct answer: (1) This is an analysis question. The poet describes the boy as “waving his stick in the air” and making an “exultant whoop” (lines 8 and 9). This would describe him as carefree and happy as he ran down to meet the cow. The word “exultant” means typified by great joy, which would also support the idea of the boy being carefree. The remaining choices express negative feelings and emotions that do not accurately characterize the boy’s mood. 3. Correct answer: (2) This is a vocabulary question. The author states, “the bird meandering between tall bulrushes.” At the least, the context clue would suggest moving or walking. The bird walking in between the bulrushes would not take a straight path because there are obstacles in its way; therefore, the path would be meandering, which means to follow a winding path with turns in it. That would match the movements of the bird. 4. Correct answer: (4) This is an analysis question. Although the word “delighted” is mentioned in the passage, the word “guilt” is not. Therefore, the reader would have to interpret the thoughts of the boy expressed in lines 45-47, “then he felt he had done wrong. He left it back quickly. He knew he shouldn’t have touched it and he wondered would the bird forsake it. A vague sadness stole over him and he felt in his heart he had sinned.” These lines express his guilt over possibly having caused the bird to reject the egg. The stem of the question implies that the emotion that will follow Colm’s “initial delight” will be negative; therefore, choices 1 and 2 can be eliminated. While choice 3 is a negative emotion, it is not what Colm feels about how he endangered the egg. 5. Correct answer: (1) This is an analysis question. It is an example of scaffolding (when one question builds upon a previous one). The answer for question 4 establishes that Colm feels guilty about handling the egg. In the dialogue between the two boys, Peadar questions Colm about wild ducks, and Colm says about the egg in line 63, “I had it in my hand.” In line 65, Peadar shouts, “She’ll forsake it! She’ll forsake! She’ll forsake!” He means that the duck will not come back to hatch the egg. Upon hearing this, Colm’s feeling of guilt is intensified. The remaining choices do not characterize the effect of the dialogue. 6. Correct answer: (3) This is an inference question. It is not stated directly in the poem, but the reader has to infer. The rain brings good things like spring and life; therefore, it is valuable. Silver is a precious metal, and it too has value. The rain, therefore, is seen, metaphorically, to be as valuable as silver. That is the comparison that is being made. “Silver” would not communicate a feeling of warmth or safety, so choices 1 and 4 are incorrect. While silver is somewhat hard because it is a metal, that is not the significance of the poet’s figurative use of the word to mean valuable, so choice 2 is also incorrect.
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8. Correct answer: (4) This is a vocabulary question. In order to answer it correctly, the reader has to know the definition of each term. Alliteration is the repetition of beginning consonant sounds. Hyperbole is exaggeration used for effect. Metaphor is an implied comparison between two unlike things connected by a form of the verb “to be.” Personification is giving human qualities to something non-human. In line 5, the flowers “lift their heads.” In lines 15 and 16, “trees put forth new leaves to sing.” Both of these descriptions give human qualities (heads and singing) to nonhuman plants. 9. Correct answer: (1) This is an analysis question. The “new leaves to sing in joy” (lines 16 and 17) compares with the “boys and girls go singing, too”, lines 19 and 20, so their singing is an expression of joy, too. The remaining choices do not reflect a feeling of joy. 10. Correct answer: (2) This is a summarization question. Overall means throughout the entire poem. The narrator’s attitude (the literary element is called tone) is one of appreciation for nature and its renewal of life. Choices 1 and 3 are negative feelings and do not characterize the attitude of the narrator.
Response: Part A In Part A of Session Two, you are required to write an essay analyzing the two passages utilizing the concept of the “controlling idea.” A controlling idea is a shared idea between the two works that expresses a similar theme or notion. Then you use examples (proofs) from each work that exemplify the controlling idea. For each work, you must give a literary element that can include the following examples but is not limited to these terms: ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
Setting Characterization Plot Point of view Theme Symbolism
Any literary device or figurative language term is acceptable if used correctly in the context of the works. Also, you may use the same literary term for both works. The controlling idea is revealed in the Your Task description and Guidelines. Your Task: After you have read the passages and answered the multiple-choice questions, write a unified essay about the natural world as revealed in the passages. In your essay, use ideas from both passages to establish a controlling idea about the natural world. Using evidence from each passage, develop your controlling idea and show how the author uses specific literary elements or techniques to convey that idea.
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7. Correct answer: (2) This is an analysis question. Lines 8-10 repeat “Of life.” The renewal of nature is the repetition of life that occurs every spring. That is what the wonder represents. While there is a discovery of truth in the sense that a wonder of life is revealed, choice 1 is too general and not as specific as choice 2. Choices 3 and 4 are not reflected in the poem.
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Guidelines Be sure to . . . ■ ■ ■
■ ■ ■
Use ideas from both passages to establish a controlling idea about the natural world. Use specific and relevant evidence from each passage to develop your controlling idea. Show how each author uses specific literary elements (for example: theme, characterization, structure, point of view) or techniques (for example: symbolism, irony, figurative language) to convey the controlling idea. Organize your ideas in a logical and coherent manner. Use language that communicates ideas effectively. Follow the conventions of standard written English.
Controlling Idea Essay Outline Introductory Paragraph 1: Provide and develop the controlling idea and make reference to the two passages and authors. Body Paragraphs 2 and 3: Give examples (proofs) from each passage that refer to the natural world. Concluding Paragraph 4: Restate information. The introductory paragraph further develops the controlling idea about the natural world as revealed in the passages. Both passages deal with how the natural world is perceived and portrayed by the authors. In Passage I, “The Wild Duck’s Nest,” by Michael McLaverty, nature is portrayed as beautiful but fragile and easily damaged. In Passage II, “In Time of Silver Rain,” by Langston Hughes, nature is shown to be the source of creation and rebirth. Both passages display an appreciation and love of nature. In your first paragraph, you have established and developed the controlling idea about the natural world and named the works and authors. The body contains specific references to the passages regarding the portrayal of the natural world. A literary element and proofs (examples from the passages) must be used for each work. For Passage I, imagery would be an excellent choice for the literary element. Imagery is when an author uses words that appeal to the senses. Examples from the passage include the following: “Soft rays gilding . . . green hills . . . wet gold light . . . hoof-printed path that wriggled . . . crater-like valley . . . fan-shaped streaks of light . . . golden edgedclouds.” The climax, or turning point, of the story is when Colm picks up the duck egg. Up until that time, the passage describes the beauty and diversity of nature, and Colm is excited and happy as he explores his surroundings. However, after he picks up the egg, he feels guilt, remorse, and sadness because he thinks the mother duck will “forsake” it, as it has been contaminated by human touch. His regret is so deep that, “he felt in his heart he had sinned” (lines 46 and 47). After he admits to Peadar that he had the egg in his hand, Peadar tells him in line 65, “‘She’ll forsake it! She’ll forsake! She’ll forsake!’” What started out as an exciting walk amid the beauty of nature ends as “running wildly from the scene of the disaster” (lines 90 and 91). Passage II is a more positive portrayal of nature and its power of creation. In the title, and throughout the poem, rain is described as “silver.” Although this is not a direct metaphor (an implied comparison between two unlike things connected by a form of the verb “to be”) it is metaphorical, nonetheless.
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Both passages portray the beauty and creative source of nature. In Passage I, the vulnerability of that source is symbolized by the duck’s egg that has been put in jeopardy because of human contact. In Passage II, the creative source of nature is revitalized with each new spring and the “silver rain.”
Critical Lens Essay Part B of Session Two is the Critical Lens. Basically, this is a persuasive, literary essay, with one important difference—the addition of a Critical Lens (a quote). The quote is not from a work of literature about which you are being asked to respond. It is a quote whose meaning can be applied to two literary works that you choose from what you have read. Since school districts, statewide, can choose what works of literature they want to teach, reviewing specific examples of Critical Lens essays, using books and plays that you have not read, will not be of much use. Therefore, it is more effective to study methods for the interpretation of a quote and the Critical Lens essay form.
Critical Lens Essay Form ■ ■
Use two works of literature. Include one literary term per work (it can be the same term).
Paragraph 1 ■ ■ ■ ■
Explain the Critical Lens. Agree or disagree (choose only one). Choose two works of literature. Give authors.
Paragraphs 2 and 3 ■ ■
Give proofs (examples) from each work that support your understanding of the Critical Lens. Include one literary element for each work.
Paragraph 4 ■
Conclusion—restate information.
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Beyond the rain, literally, having a silver appearance, rain is described, figuratively, as being silver because it, too, is precious like the metal, silver. As shown in the poem, it is precious because it waters the plants and allows them to grow. The “time of silver rain” is spring, a time of rebirth and growth in the cycle of life. Another literary element that is used is personification (when human qualities are given to something non-human). In line 5, the flowers “lift their heads.” In lines 15 and 16, “trees put forth new leaves to sing.” Both of these descriptions give human qualities (heads and singing) to non-human plants.
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CliffsTestPrep Regents English Workbook Read the following Critical Lens and write down your interpretation. “All that is literature seeks to communicate power . . .” —Thomas De Quincey, The Collected Writings of Thomas De Quincey, 1897 In the introductory paragraph, interpret the Critical Lens quote in your own words. The author of this quote postulates that literature seeks to communicate power to the reader. What is not contained directly in the quote, since it is taken out of context, is what kind of power and how is it communicated. Those variables would depend on what works you choose; however, the communication or main idea of literature, whatever the meaning, is expressed by the literary element, theme. Theme can be conveyed through setting, characterization, plot, and figurative language. Any of these literary elements could apply. The body of the essay consists of two paragraphs, one for each work that you choose. This is where you will give examples (proofs) from each work that support your understanding of the quote (that literature seeks to communicate power). For each work, you must give a literary element that can include the following examples but is not limited to these terms: ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
Setting Characterization Plot Point of view Theme Symbolism
Any literary device or figurative language term is acceptable if used correctly in the context of the works. Also, you may use the same literary term for both works. In the body of your essay, develop a literary element for each work and show how it helps to communicate power. For example, a good choice would be a work of literature that has a setting that challenges the protagonist (main character) with great adversity, yet he or she, against all odds, prevails. The theme would be how one can manifest the power to surmount obstacles and succeed. This would also be an aspect of characterization as the reader observes what traits it takes to accomplish this. The literary elements of external and internal conflict can be analyzed to define those obstacles as they exist both outside and inside of the main character. Those conflicts would be part of the larger construct of the plot, another literary element. There may be an even deeper symbolic sense to the work where the communication about power results in a spiritual realization or epiphany rather than a material gain or worldly success. The character could even fail, in those regards, but remain true to his or herself, thereby demonstrating an inner power and resolve. Most quotes can be agreed with quite easily and elicit that response; however, you may disagree with any quote. What is most important is that you support your understanding of the lens with examples from two works of literature, which you will name in the first paragraph. In the concluding paragraph, restate your main ideas as they apply to your interpretation of the Critical Lens.
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Sample Critical Lens Essay Questions The following sample Critical Lens essay questions have appeared on previous Session Two, Part B, Regents English Exams. While you don’t have to write these essays, it would be helpful to have an idea of the types of questions you’ll be asked, as well as the scope of the material that may be covered. Use the blank pages at the end of this section to jot down any notes. The Your Task and Guidelines that we’ve provided for Essay One are the same for all of the other essays.
Essay One Your Task: Write a critical essay in which you discuss two works of literature you have read from the particular perspective of the statement that is provided for you in the Critical Lens. In your essay, provide a valid interpretation of the statement, agree or disagree with the statement as you have interpreted it, and support your opinion using specific references to appropriate literary elements from the two works. You may use scrap paper to plan your response.
Critical Lens “We do not read novels* for improvement or instruction.” —Oliver Wendell Holmes, The Occasional Speeches of Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, 1962 * For the purpose of writing your critical essay, you may interpret the word “novels” to include plays, short stories, poems, biographies, and books of true experience.
Guidelines Be sure to . . . ■ ■ ■
■ ■
■ ■ ■
Provide a valid interpretation of the Critical Lens that clearly establishes the criteria for analysis. Indicate whether you agree or disagree with the statement as you have interpreted it. Choose two works you have read that you believe best support your opinion. (Remember that you may use any genre of literature, including novels, plays, short stories, poems, biographies, and books of true experience.) Use the criteria suggested by the Critical Lens to analyze the works you have chosen. Avoid plot summary. Instead, use specific references to appropriate literary elements (for example: theme, characterization, setting, point of view) to develop your analysis. Organize your ideas in a unified and coherent manner. Specify the titles and authors of the literature you choose. Follow the conventions of standard written English.
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Essay Two Critical Lens “Good people . . . are good because they’ve come to wisdom through failure.” —William Saroyan, as quoted in “Room for Hate—and Hope” from New York Journal-American, August 23, 1961
Essay Three Critical Lens “All literature shows us the power of emotion. It is emotion, not reason, that motivates characters in literature.” —paraphrased from an interview with Duff Brenna
Essay Four Critical Lens “If the literature we are reading does not wake us, why then do we read it? A literary work must be an ice-axe to break the sea frozen inside us.” —Franz Kafka (adapted)
Essay Five Critical Lens “The bravest of individuals is the one who obeys his or her conscience.” —J. F. Clarke (adapted)
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Essay Six Critical Lens “All literature is protest. You can’t name a single literary work that isn’t protest.” —Richard Wright (adapted)
Essay Seven Critical Lens “What lasts is what is written. We look to literature to find the essence of an age.” —Peter Brodie (adapted)
Essay Eight Critical Lens “All conflict in literature is, in its simplest form, a struggle between good and evil.” —Anonymous
Essay Nine Critical Lens “It is the responsibility of the writer to expose our many grievous faults and failures and to hold up to the light our dark and dangerous dreams, for the purpose of improvement.” —John Steinbeck (adapted)
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Essay Ten Critical Lens “A story must be exceptional enough to justify its telling; it must have something more unusual to relate than the ordinary experience of every average man and woman.” —Thomas Hardy
Essay Eleven Critical Lens “It is not what an author says, but what he or she whispers, that is important.” —Logan Pearsall Smith (adapted)
Essay Twelve Critical Lens “When writers write from a place of insight and real caring about truth, they have the ability to throw lights on for the reader.” —Anne Lamott (adapted)
Essay Thirteen Critical Lens “Good literature substitutes for an experience which we have not ourselves lived through.” —Alexander Solzhenitsyn (adapted)
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Essay Fourteen Critical Lens “In literature, evil often triumphs, but never conquers.” —Anonymous
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